Identification of domains of a cloned rat brain GABA transporter which are not required for its functional expression

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Abstract
The sodium and chloride coupled γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) transporter purified from rat brain, belongs to a superfamily of neurotransmitter transporters. They are involved in the termination of synaptic transmission and are predicted to have 12 membrane spanning α‐helices with both amino‐ and carboxyl‐termini oriented toward the cytoplasm. In order to define the domains not required for functional expression, we have constructed and expressed a series of deletion mutants in GAT‐1, the cDNA clone encoding for the transporter. Transporters truncated at either end until just a few amino‐acids distance from the beginning of helix 1 and the end of helix 12, retain their ability to catalyze sodium and chloride‐dependent GABA transport.