glucosetransporter
Glucose transporter, commonly referred to as the GLUT family, comprises membrane proteins that mediate the passive transport of glucose and related hexoses across the cell membrane along their concentration gradients. They are part of the major facilitator superfamily and typically contain about 500 amino acids with 12 transmembrane helices. The N- and C- termini are cytoplasmic, and extracellular loops commonly bear N-linked glycosylation sites, which influence trafficking and function.
The human genome encodes several GLUTs, designated GLUT1 through GLUT14, with distinct tissue distributions and affinity
Glucose transport by GLUTs follows facilitated diffusion and the alternating-access mechanism: transporter cycles between outward- and
Regulation includes transcriptional control and, for GLUT4, insulin-stimulated translocation from intracellular vesicles to the plasma membrane.
Note that GLUTs differ from the sodium-glucose co-transporters (SGLTs), which actively transport glucose against its gradient