MULTIPLE RESTRICTION-FRAGMENT-LENGTH-POLYMORPHISMS AT THE GLUT2 LOCUS - GLUT2 HAPLOTYPES FOR GENETIC-ANALYSIS OF TYPE-2 (NON-INSULIN-DEPENDENT) DIABETES-MELLITUS

The liver/islet glucose transporter (GLUT2) is expressed in the liver and in the Beta cells of pancreatic islets and is a candidate gene for the inherited defect in Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. A series of restriction fragment length polymorphisms have been identified using a GLUT2 cDNA probe with five restriction enzymes in a British white Caucasian population. Five independent restriction fragment length polymorphisms detected by restriction enzymes EcoRI (two restriction fragment length polymorphisms termed EcoRI-1, EcoRI-2), TaqI (two restriction fragment length polymorphisms termed TaqI-1, TaqI-2), and BclI (BclI-2) were used to construct GLUT2 haplotypes. Significant linkage disequilibrium was observed between four polymorphic sites EcoRI-2, TaqI-1, TaqI-2 and BclI-2 but linkage disequilibrium was not observed with EcoRI-I polymorphic site and the other four sites. The frequencies of GLUT2 restriction fragment length polymorphisms and haplotypes in 50 Type 2 diabetic subjects and 50 non-diabetic control subjects show no significant differences suggesting that it is unlikely that there is a single major defect of this gene contributing to the inherited susceptibility to Type 2 diabetes in a Caucasian population.