A STRUCTURE-FUNCTION STUDY OF MFSD2A

Abstract

The major facilitator superfamily domain containing protein 2A (MFSD2A) is a membrane transporter that is part of the major facilitator superfamily (MFS) of transporters. In this thesis, we investigate the importance of the membrane transporter MFSD2A for human brain development and function. We found that MFSD2A transport function is essential for brain development and function in humans.

There was previously no information in the literature about the structure of MFSD2A. MFSD2A is found at the blood-brain barrier (BBB), where it has the potential to act as a conduit for uptake of drugs across the BBB for treatment of brain diseases. Elucidation of the structure of MFSD2A is required to identify or guide design of drugs and pro-drugs to exploit this transporter for delivery to the brain. In this study, we present the first structural models of human MFSD2A. We built these structural models using a combination of computational and biochemical approaches.