Glucose transporter 2 in common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.): molecular cloning, tissue expression, and the responsiveness to glucose, insulin, and glucagon

Glucose transporter 2 (glut2) has been studied in mammals, aves, and several fish, while the comparative studies of glut2 in common carp are still lacking. In this study, glut2 was firstly isolated and characterized from the liver of common carp. The full-length cDNA of glut2 was 2351 bp with an open reading frame (ORF) of 1512 bp, encoding 503 amino acids. Alignment of glut2 amino acid sequences from different species revealed that common carp glut2 showed higher sequence identity with teleosts, and lower homology with mammals and amphibians. Tissue distribution demonstrated that glut2 mRNA level was mainly expressed in liver, foregut, and midgut. To investigate the actions of glut2 on glucose metabolism, the level of glut2 mRNA was detected after intraperitoneal injection of glucose, human insulin and glucagon (100 ng/g), respectively. Following glucose administration, glut2 gene expression was significantly upregulated at 3 h in the foregut. However, no change was found in hepatic glut2 mRNA level, indicating that glut2 may have a role in intestinal glucose uptake rather than in the liver. Following insulin treatment, the expression of glut2 was markedly downregulated at 3 h and 6 h in the liver, and at 3 h in the foregut, respectively. Furthermore, glut2 mRNA expression was unaffected by glucagon injection in the liver and foregut. These results suggested that the expression of glut2 regulated by pancreatic hormones was different. Taken together, our studies firstly revealed the structure of the glut2 gene and its potential functions in glucose metabolism of common carp.