Fluorescence study on ligand induced conformational changes of human erythrocyte glucose transporter

The nanosecond time-resolved fluorescence and fluorescence lifetime quenching have been used to detect the conformational changes of human erythrocyte glucose transporter induced by its ligands. Results show that D-glucose can decrease the fluorescence lifetimes, while L-glucose exhibits no effect. The fluorescence lifetime quenching results also show that in the presence of D-glucose, the quenching efficiency of hypocrellin B (a hydrophobic quencher obtained from a parasitic fungus, growing in Yunnan, China) is lower than in the presence of L-glucose. It can be deduced that the conformational changes of human erythrocyte glucose transporter induced by D-glucose are different from those induced by L-glucose.