[Mutations of glucokinase gene in Japanese subjects with NIDDM]

Glucokinase has been proposed to play an important role as a glucose sensor in pancreatic beta-cells. Mutations in the glucokinase gene have been shown to be the major cause of maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY) in Caucasian subjects. In population-association study with microsatellite DNA polymorphisms in Japanese subjects with NIDDM, a negative association was evident between NIDDM and the glucokinase gene locus, although contradictionary results were present. Using PCR-SSCP analysis, no glucokinase mutation, which induces changes in amino acid residues, was identified in Japanese subjects with classical late-onset NIDDM. These results suggest that mutations in this gene are not the major cause of common form NIDDM in Japanese.