Glucose transporters in cattle - a review*

Glucose is the major energy source for the animal cells. It is important substrate for protein and lipid synthesis. This sugar is absorbed into the cells from body fluids via glucose transporters – structurally related trans-membrane proteins. There are two types of glucose transport passive and active. The facilitative-glucose-transporter family of proteins (solute co-transporters GLUT, encoded by SLC2A genes) participates in energy-independent process of glucose transport. The Na+/ glucose co-transporter family proteins SGLT (solute carriers, encoded by SLC5A genes) mediate the Na+-linked transport of glucose against the electrochemical gradient. In this review, we describe genomic structure and function of the bovine glucose transporters. Intra-species comparative analyses o the amino acid identities of glucose transporter proteins is also described, as well as the information on the nucleotide sequence polymorphisms in the bovine glucose transporter genes.