title: Avian and Mammalian Facilitative Glucose Transporters.
abstract: The GLUT members belong to a family of glucose transporter proteins that facilitate glucose transport across the cell membrane. The mammalian GLUT family consists of thirteen members (GLUTs 1-12 and H⁺-myo-inositol transporter (HMIT)). Humans have a recently duplicated GLUT member, GLUT14. Avians express the majority of GLUT members. The arrangement of multiple GLUTs across all somatic tissues signifies the important role of glucose across all organisms. Defects in glucose transport have been linked to metabolic disorders, insulin resistance and diabetes. Despite the essential importance of these transporters, our knowledge regarding GLUT members in avians is fragmented. It is clear that there are no chicken orthologs of mammalian GLUT4 and GLUT7. Our examination of GLUT members in the chicken revealed that some chicken GLUT members do not have corresponding orthologs in mammals. We review the information regarding GLUT orthologs and their function and expression in mammals and birds, with emphasis on chickens and humans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd., Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN 37209, USA. maryshannonbyers@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Mary Shannon
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Byers
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Langston University, Langston, OK 73050, USA. cahoward@langston.edu.
authors.forename: Christianna
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd., Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN 37209, USA. xwang@tnstate.edu.
authors.forename: Xiaofei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: GLUTs; avian; chicken; glucose transporter; mammal; phylogenetic analysis