This study focuses on the maturation of the renal beta-amino acid transport system and uses dietary manipulation as a probe. The epithelial surface of the renal proximal tubule is responsible for the conservation of ions and organic solutes including beta-amino acids. This beta-amino acid transport system is stimulated during periods of reduced dietary intake and permits increased excretion following dietary excess. We have examined transport of the sulfur-containing beta-amino acid, taurine, as a measure of this renal adaptive response to fluctuations in dietary sulfur amino acid intake and as a substrate for the beta-amino acid transport system. A precession of taurine uptake values by brush border membrane vesicles (BBMV) prepared from nursing rats from youngest to oldest was evident. However, these membranes demonstrate the full renal adaptive response to altered sulfur amino acid intake after the first week of life. This adaptive response is expressed at the brush border surface by transport changes in both directions ("up regulation" and "down regulation"), through changes in the initial rate (15 sec) of Na+-taurine cotransport. No alterations in the lipid microenvironment of the membrane, as detected by altered membrane fluidity, were uncovered. Although vesicles from 7-day-old pups demonstrate adaptation and accumulate taurine to a limited extent, the accumulation of Na+, which energizes uptake, may be altered, thereby preventing full expression of the adaptive response and of transport capacity at this age.