Cryo-EM structure of human glucose transporter GLUT4.
Yafei YuanFang KongHanwen XuAngqi ZhuNieng YanChuangye YanPublished in: Nature communications (2022)
GLUT4 is the primary glucose transporter in adipose and skeletal muscle tissues. Its cellular trafficking is regulated by insulin signaling. Failed or reduced plasma membrane localization of GLUT4 is associated with diabetes. Here, we report the cryo-EM structures of human GLUT4 bound to a small molecule inhibitor cytochalasin B (CCB) at resolutions of 3.3 Å in both detergent micelles and lipid nanodiscs. CCB-bound GLUT4 exhibits an inward-open conformation. Despite the nearly identical conformation of the transmembrane domain to GLUT1, the cryo-EM structure reveals an extracellular glycosylation site and an intracellular helix that is invisible in the crystal structure of GLUT1. The structural study presented here lays the foundation for further mechanistic investigation of the modulation of GLUT4 trafficking. Our methods for cryo-EM analysis of GLUT4 will also facilitate structural determination of many other small size solute carriers.
Keyphrases
- small molecule
- type diabetes
- skeletal muscle
- endothelial cells
- gene expression
- adipose tissue
- drug delivery
- cardiovascular disease
- insulin resistance
- minimally invasive
- molecular dynamics simulations
- blood pressure
- metabolic syndrome
- induced pluripotent stem cells
- mass spectrometry
- drug release
- weight loss
- simultaneous determination
- solid phase extraction