Alternative titles; symbols
HGNC Approved Gene Symbol: SLC30A3
Cytogenetic location: 2p23.3 Genomic coordinates (GRCh38): 2:27,253,684-27,275,817 (from NCBI)
Zinc is required for the maintenance and activity of numerous metalloproteins, where it has either a structural role or a catalytic function. While cells can tolerate slight increases in zinc over the amount required to fulfill metalloprotein needs, zinc becomes toxic beyond that excess unless cells induce protective mechanisms. One protective mechanism involves transporters that facilitate zinc influx during deficiency and efflux during excess. Specific transporters that concentrate zinc in vesicular compartments within some cell types are probably also essential. By screening a human temporal cortex cDNA library with a mouse zinc transporter-3 (Znt3) cDNA, Palmiter et al. (1996) cloned cDNAs encoding ZNT3. The predicted 388-amino acid ZNT3 protein has 6 transmembrane domains, with the N and C termini located in the cytoplasm. The human and mouse ZNT3 proteins are 86% identical. Northern blot and RT-PCR analyses of mouse tissues detected Znt3 transcripts only in brain and testis. By in situ hybridization of mouse brain, Znt3 mRNA was most abundant in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. Immunohistochemical analysis of brain using antibodies against Znt3 detected protein expression in a pattern similar to that of histochemically localized vesicular zinc. Palmiter et al. (1996) proposed that ZNT3 is an essential component of a complex that sequesters zinc in synaptic vesicles.
By EST database analysis, Seve et al. (2004) found evidence of high SLC30A3 expression in human brain and testis, with lower levels in T cells, head, neck, and chondrosarcoma.
Seve et al. (2004) stated that the human SLC30A3 gene contains 8 exons.
By interspecific backcross analysis, Palmiter et al. (1996) mapped the mouse Znt3 gene near the engrailed-2 (EN2; 131310) gene on chromosome 5, in a region showing homology of synteny to human chromosome 7. However, Seve et al. (2004) stated that the human SLC30A3 gene maps to chromosome 2p23.3.
Palmiter, R. D., Cole, T. B., Quaife, C. J., Findley, S. D. ZnT-3, a putative transporter of zinc into synaptic vesicles. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 93: 14934-14939, 1996. [PubMed: 8962159] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.93.25.14934]
Seve, M., Chimienti, F., Devergnas, S., Favier, A. In silico identification and expression of SLC30 family genes: an expressed sequence tag data mining strategy for the characterization of zinc transporters' tissue expression. BMC Genomics 5: 32, 2004. Note: Electronic Article. [PubMed: 15154973] [Full Text: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-5-32]