Impaired renal tubular transport of proline, hydroxyproline, and glycine was inherited as an autosomal recessive trait in two Ashkenazi-Jewish pedigrees and one French-Canadian family; the heterozygotes for the trait exhibited hyperglycinuria only. Intestinal transport of imino acids and glycine was not impaired in homozygotes. It is possible that more than one mutant allele may occur at a locus controlling tubular transport of the imino acids and glycine, since one subject with the imino-glycinuric phenotype had one parent who was not hyperglycinuric.

More than 60% of the specific tubular transport function is still available in homozygotes for absorption of imino acids and glycine at endogenous substrate concentrations; however, this persistent transport is already saturated at these concentrations in contrast to the large capacity available in normal subjects. Furthermore, the glycine portion of this persistent transport is noninhibitable by imino acids in contrast to the normal situation. The imino acids can inhibit each other's uptake in mutant and normal phenotypes. Two modes of transport for the imino acids and glycine are proposed to explain these observations: (1) a common system with high capacity, and (2) two additional systems, each with low capacity (one-tenth or less of the common system). One of these systems is apparently shared by proline and hydroxyproline. The mutant allele(s) observed in this investigation occur at the locus for the common system.