The Drosophila glucose transporter gene: cDNA sequence, phylogenetic comparisons, analysis of functional sites and...

Facilitative glucose transport is mediated by members of the glucose transporter (GLUT) protein family that belong to the large superfamily of twelve transmembrane segment transporters. We have cloned and sequenced a 2,168 base-pair cDNA from Drosophila melanogaster (termed Dmglut1: GenBank accession number AF064703) with strong homology to the mammalian Glut genes. The cDNA has an open reading frame encoding a protein of 480 amino acids which shows a similarity of 68% to the human GLUT1 protein. We have done a phylogenetic analysis of the cDNA and the deduced protein sequences and found a significant homology to a putative coding sequence (Ceglut1) in Caenorhabditis elegans. Here we report the results of analyses of functional sites and secondary structures of the proposed proteins and conclude that the Dmglut1 and Ceglut1 genes encode functional glucose transporters.