Zinc Transporters (Solute Carrier Family 30)

The mammalian SLC30 transporters family is also known as the ZnT family, which is comprised of 10 members, belonging to a large superfamily of transporters called CDF (cation diffusion facilitator) which includes zinc transporters with similar topology among bacteria, fungi, nematodes, plants, insects, and mammals.

Zinc (Zn²⁺) plays an important and unique role in many key biological processes, such as growth, development, reproduction, and immune function. Therefore, maintaining an adequate but tightly regulated intracellular zinc level is critical for the survival of living organisms including humans. In mammals, two families of zinc transporters, family SLC30, and SLC39, control the cellular zinc level in a narrow physiological range. In general, the two zinc transporter families work in opposite directions to control zinc trafficking in and out of the cell or in and out of intracellular compartments such as ER, Golgi, mitochondria, and vesicle. The SLC30 family is involved in:

Transferring zinc from the cytoplasm into intracellular compartments to provide zinc for zinc-containing proteins and store zinc in the cells;
Shuffling cytoplasmic zinc out to the extracellular space to avoid zinc toxicity.

(A) Localization of ZnT transporters in a generalized mammalian cell. (B) Localization of ZnT transporters in an intestinal epithelial cell. (C) Localization of ZnT transporters in a secreting mammary epithelial cell. (D) Localization of ZnT3 in an axon terminal. Organelles of the cell are labeled in the panel A. Arrows indicate the direction of translocation of zinc ions. Fig.1 Cellular localization of ZnT transporters. (Huang, 2013)

Based on sequence similarities, the ten SLC30 family members can be divided into four subfamilies with SLC30A5 (ZnT5) and SLC30A7 (ZnT7) in subfamily I, SLC30A2/3/4 and SLC30A8 (ZnT2, ZnT3, ZnT4 and ZnT8) in subfamily II, SLC30A1 (ZnT1) and SLC30A10 (ZnT10) in subfamily III, and SLC30A6 (ZnT6) and SLC30A9 (ZnT9) in subfamily IV. SLC30 proteins usually have long C-terminal tails. All SLC30 proteins contain topological features of the CDF proteins, except for ZnT5, which contains additional TM domains at the N-terminal end of the protein. The length and the amino acid sequences upstream of the first TM domain of SLC30 proteins, which usually contain subcellular targeting signals, differ largely among SLC30 proteins.

Human SLC30 Family Members
SLC30A1	SLC30A2	SLC30A3	SLC30A5	SLC30A8	SLC30A10

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Reference

Huang L and Tepaamorndech S. (2013). The SLC30 family of zinc transporters - a review of current understanding of their biological and pathophysiological roles. Mol Aspects Med. 34(2-3): 548-60.

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