Amino acid uptake in the intestine and kidney is mediated by a variety of amino acid transporters. To understand the role of epithelial neutral amino acid uptake in whole body homeostasis, we analyzed mice lacking the apical broad-spectrum neutral (0) amino acid transporter B 0 AT1 (Slc6a19). A general neutral aminoaciduria was observed similar to human Hartnup disorder which is caused by mutations in SLC6A19. Na ؉ -dependent uptake of neutral amino acids into the intestine and renal brushborder membrane vesicles was abolished. No compensatory increase of peptide transport or other neutral amino acid transporters was detected. Mice lacking B 0 AT1 showed a reduced body weight. When adapted to a standard 20% protein diet, B 0 AT1-deficient mice lost body weight rapidly on diets containing 6 or 40% protein. Secretion of insulin in response to food ingestion after fasting was blunted. In the intestine, amino acid signaling to the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway was reduced, whereas the GCN2/ATF4 stress response pathway was activated, indicating amino acid deprivation in epithelial cells. The results demonstrate that epithelial amino acid uptake is essential for optimal growth and body weight regulation.In a typical Western diet humans consume about 80 -100 g of protein per day. Proteins are hydrolyzed by the action of secreted and membrane-bound peptidases into individual amino acids, di-and tripeptides (1). Individual amino acids are taken up by a variety of amino acid transporters, whereas diand tripeptides are absorbed by the peptide transporter PepT1 (SLC15A1) (2). Together this digestive process makes 90 -95% of ingested proteins available to the body. Protein demand is particularly high during growth and development when new proteins are required to build up body mass. In the adult, protein recycling is quite efficient, and only 50 g of protein is needed per day to replace protein lost through urine and feces.The bulk of neutral amino acids is absorbed in the intestine by the neutral amino acid transporter B 0 AT1 (SLC6A19), which is also expressed in the kidney where it mediates reabsorption of neutral amino acids (3). Expression studies in heterologous systems have shown that B 0 AT1 accepts all neutral amino acids with a preference for large neutral amino acids such as branched-chain amino acids and methionine (4, 5). These amino acids are taken up with a K m of about 1 mM, whereas smaller amino acids are taken up with higher K m values. Glycine and proline are poor substrates of B 0 AT1. As a result additional transporters are involved in the uptake of imino acids and glycine, such as PAT1 (SLC36A1), PAT2 (SLC36A2), and IMINO (SLC6A20) (6). Additional transport systems for other neutral amino acids in the kidney and intestine have been proposed; these include a specific intestinal transporter for methionine and phenylalanine (7) and the amino acid antiporter ASCT2 (SLC1A5) as a mediator of small neutral amino acids and glutamine uptake in kidney and intestine (8).Efficient trafficking and sur...