Emily Overway
Purdue University
Richard O’Brien Lab
SLC30A8 encodes a zinc transporter, ZnT8, which is mainly expressed in pancreatic islets. ZnT8 has been shown to regulate glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and some SNPs have been associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes. ZnT8 also undergoes alternative splicing and an alternative exon is observed in 50% or more of the human population; the presence of this alternative exon inactivates the gene. My project will explore SNPs that may affect the efficiency of this splicing event, if splicing is regulated by zinc and/or glucose levels, and if splicing is altered in diabetic versus non-diabetic individuals.