Cloning of glucose transporter-3 (GLUT3) cDNA from rat brain

Using PCR, glucose transporter-3 (GLUT3) was cloned in its entirety from rat brain. The similarity between human, murine and rodent glucose transporter-3 proteins exceeds 90%. Such extensive sequence conservation suggests that essentially all regions of the protein, including the transmembrane domains, are functionally important. This clone can be used to study GLUT3 expression in the rat by Northern analysis or in situ hybridization, or the sequence can be used to generate peptide antibodies. Finally, the availability of a probe for glucose transporter-3 in the rat allows studies of the regulation of GLUT3 gene expression in neurons under a variety of physiological and pathophysiological conditions.