The in-silico evaluation of important GLUT9 residue for uric acid transport based on renal hypouricemia type 2

Uric acid is the end product of purine metabolism. Uric acid transporters in the renal proximal tubule plays a key role in uric acid transport. Functional abnormalities in these transporters could lead to high or low levels of uric acid in the blood plasma, known as hyperuricemia and hypouricemia, respectively. GLUT9 has been reported as a key transporter for uric acid reuptake in renal proximal tubule. GLUT9 mutation is known as causal gene for renal hypouricemia due to defective uric acid uptake, with more severe cases resulting in urolithiasis and exercise induced acute kidney injury (EIAKI). However, the effect of mutation is not fully investigated and hard to predict the change of binding affinity. We comprehensively described the effect of GLUT9 mutation for uric acid transport using molecular dynamics and investigated the specific site for uric acid binding differences. R171C and R380W showed the significant disruption of the structure not affecting transport dynamics whereas L75R, G216R, N333S, and P412R showed the reduced affinity of the extracellular vestibular area towards urate. Interestingly, T125 M showed a significant increase in intracellular binding energy, associated with distorted geometries. We can use this classification to consider the effect mutations by comparing the transport profiles of mutants against those of chemical candidates for transport and providing new perspectives to urate lowering drug discovery using GLUT9.