Effects of rs5418 site variation in SLC2A4 promoter region on gene expression

AIM: To investigate the effect of G/A mutation in rs5418 site of solute carrier family 2,facilitated glucose transporter,member 4 protein(SLC2A4) promoter region on gene expression. METHODS: The core promoter region of SLC2A4 gene was amplified by PCR. Mutant and wild-type recombinant expression vectors containing promoter of SLC2A4 gene were constructed by recombinant gene technique and the strategy of site-directed mutagenesis. Recombinant vectors were transfected into HEK293T cells by lipofectamine and the expression activity of the reporter gene in the recombinant expression vectors with different alleles was detected by a dual-luciferase reporter assay system. RESULTS: The 716-bp SLC2A4 promoter was amplified and the recombinant expression vectors pGL3-SLC2A4-prom(A) and pGL3-SLC2A4-prom(G) were successfully constructed. The luciferase reporter vector containing SLC2A4 promoter with rs5418-A alleles produced significantly higher relative luciferase activity (19.49±4.41) than that with rs5418-G allele (13.04±4.45; P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The G→A variation of rs5418 site in SLC2A4 promoter region increases the expression of SLC2A4 gene,thereby affecting the gene function.