Inorganic Phosphate Transporter of the Major Facilitator Superfamily of transporters
This subfamily is composed of predominantly fungal and plant high-affinity inorganic phosphate transporters (PhT or PiPT), which are involved in the uptake, translocation, and internal transport of inorganic phosphate. They also function in sensing external phosphate levels as transceptors. Phosphate is crucial for structural and metabolic needs, including nucleotide and lipid synthesis, signalling and chemical energy storage. The Pht subfamily belongs to the Metazoan Synaptic Vesicle Glycoprotein 2 (SV2) and related small molecule transporter family (SV2-like) of the Major Facilitator Superfamily (MFS) of membrane transport proteins. MFS proteins are thought to function through a single substrate binding site, alternating-access mechanism involving a rocker-switch type of movement.