Meta-Biol

• Pathways

The plasma membrane-associated transport protein SLC5A6 (SMVT) mediates the uptake of one molecule of pantothenate (PanK) and two sodium ions from the extracellular space to the cytosol. Limited Northern blotting studies suggest that SLC5A6 is widely expressed, and abundant in placenta and small intestine, consistent with studies in the rat that show a broad tissue distribution (Prasad et al. 1998), consistent with a role for this transporter both for pantothenate uptake from the gut lumen and from the blood into tissues of the body. SLC5A6 also mediates the uptake of biotin and lipoate (Prasad et al. 1999, Wang et al. 1999). PDZ domain-containing protein 11 (PDZD11 aka AIPP1) is a cytosolic protein with a single PDZ domain which can bind to the C-terminal class 1 PDZ binding motif of SLC5A6, resulting in a significant induction of vitamin uptake over that with SLC5A6 alone (Said et al. 2011).