9.B.59 The Putative Peptide Transporter Carbon Starvation CstA (CstA) Family

The CstA family consists of proteins from bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. These proteins are of various sizes and topologies. For example, CstA of E. coli has 701 aas with 18 putative TMSs. This protein is encoded by a carbon starvation inducible gene cstA that is under cyclic AMP-CRP control. Circumstantial evidence suggests that it may be a peptide transporter (Schultz and Matin, 1991). Other homologues are of 483 aas with 12 putative TMSs (gi_18309725 from Clostridium perfringins) and 433 aas with 10 putative TMSs (gi_21290287 from Anapheles gambiae).