Essential for aminobenzoyl-glutamate utilization. It catalyzes the concentration-dependent uptake of p-aminobenzoyl-glutamate (PABA-GLU) into the cell and allows accumulation of PABA-GLU to a concentration enabling AbgAB to catalyze cleavage into p-aminobenzoate and glutamate. It seems also to increase the sensitivity to low levels of aminobenzoyl-glutamate. May actually serve physiologically as a transporter for some other molecule, perhaps a dipeptide, and that it transports p-aminobenzoyl-glutamate as a secondary activity. The physiological role of abgABT should be clarified. Completely inhibited by 100 nM of sodium azide and slightly inhibited by 100 mM of potassium fluoride. Could be transcriptionally regulated by AbgR. Cells lacking this gene loss the p-aminobenzoyl-glutamate utilization phenotype. It is suggested that in wild-type strain abgT would normally be cryptic or not expressed under conditions of growth on minimal medium. Altering the expression of abgT from its wild-type context appears to be the mechanism for obtaining the growth phenotype (PubMed:9829935).