Function, Regulation and Trafficking of Facilitative Glucose Transporters
A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409). This special issue belongs to the section "Cell Signaling".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 October 2020) | Viewed by 8537
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The GLUT/SLC2A family of proteins are widely expressed in mammalian cells. There are 14 GLUTs in the human genome which function as glucose and hexose transporters and play key roles in the regulation of metabolism. Structures of GLUTs or their prokaryotic homologs have begun to unlock details of their molecular mechanism and substrate specificities and are enhancing attempts to design novel GLUT-specific inhibitors or delivery mechanisms which offer powerful new insight into many facets of biology.
Superimposed on the basic biology of GLUTs is a drive to understand their regulation. The best studied example is provided by the insulin-responsive glucose transporter GLUT4. This isoform is highly expressed in adipose and muscle cells where it is intracellularly sequestered into vesicles; upon insulin stimulation, these vesicles move (‘translocate’) to the cell surface where they dock and fuse, resulting in increased cell surface GLUT4 levels and increased glucose entry into the cell. Translocation is impaired in Type-2 diabetes making this a key target of research. How different signals like exercise and insulin act to regulate glucose transport in muscle exemplify studies of the trafficking/signalling interface characteristic of this field.
Recently, insulin-stimulated GLUT4 translocation has been observed in certain regions of the brain and in the placental syncytiotrophoblast, and action-potential firing has been shown to recruit GLUT4 to the plasma membrane of hippocampal neurones. Such novel observations make the point that the regulation of GLUT trafficking and activity likely serves to regulate many facets of cell physiology.
This topic will focus on all aspects of GLUT biology, ranging from structure/function analysis, subcellular trafficking, GLUT regulation and the role of transporters in regulating cellular/whole animal physiology. In particular, we welcome contributions of novel GLUT-regulatory networks and mechanisms. We welcome review articles and primary research papers.
Prof. Gwyn W. Gould
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- glucose transporter
- solute carrier family 2
- glucose metabolism
- insulin
- exercise
- subcellular trafficking of GLUTs
- signalling/signal transduction
- brain and nerve glucose transport
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