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. 1989 Oct;86(19):7378–7381. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.19.7378

gamma-Aminobutyric acid uptake by a bacterial system with neurotransmitter binding characteristics.

G D Guthrie 1, C S Nicholson-Guthrie 1
PMCID: PMC298065  PMID: 2552441

Abstract

gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), an amino acid, has been found in every class of living organisms. In higher organisms, GABA is a neurotransmitter and binds with high affinity and specificity to GABA receptors on neurons in a sodium-independent reaction that is saturable. The role of GABA in organisms lacking nervous tissue is not known. This report describes, in a strain of Pseudomonas fluorescens, a GABA uptake system with binding characteristics like those of the GABA (type A) brain receptor. The binding was saturable and specific for GABA, was sodium-independent, was of high affinity (Km = 65 nM), and was inhibited competitively by muscimol, a potent GABA analogue. The bacterial GABA system included a homogeneous binding site, and no cooperative interaction was found between sites. To our knowledge, such a system for GABA, or other neurotransmitters, in a bacterium has not been reported.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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