Biochemical and immunochemical similarities among mammalian bilitranslocase and a plant flavonoid translocator

Flavonoids are a large class of plant secondary metabolites, belonging to polyphenol family, which possess pharmacological and nutritional properties. Their synthesis takes place only in plants, while mammals can acquire them only with diet. It has been demonstrated that flavonoid uptake occurs in rat also by the activity of bilitranslocase, a carrier that is involved in anion transport in liver cell, vascular endothelium and gastric mucosa. A sequence of bilitranslocase interacting with flavonoid moieties is already known and characterized. Antibody raised against such protein epitope were shown to exhibit cross-reactivity against plant membrane proteins in tissues involved in flavonoid transport and accumulation, such as teguments of carnation petals and skin of grape berries. Further immunolocalization studies allowed to demonstrate the presence of cross-reacting protein not only at the level of tegumental tissues, but also associated to sieve elements and seed teguments in grape berries.