The plant-specific VIMAG domain of Glutamine Dumper1 is necessary for the function of the protein in arabidopsis

The over-expression of the arabidopsis GLUTAMINE DUMPER1 gene (GDU1) leads to increased amino acid content and transport. In a screening for mutations suppressing this phenotype, a mutant was isolated. The mutation leads to a glycine to arginine substitution in one of the two conserved domains of the protein, the VIMAG domain. More detailed structure function relationship analyses showed that the presence of this domain and the membrane localisation are both necessary for the function of the GDU1 protein. These results shed light on the function of the GDU1 protein whose family is specific to plants.