SLC29A2
Description
The SLC29A2 (solute carrier family 29 member 2) is a protein-coding gene located on chromosome 11.
Equilibrative nucleoside transporter 2 (ENT2) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SLC29A2 gene.
SLC29A2 encodes a bidirectional uniporter that facilitates the transport of nucleosides and nucleobases, contributing to their cellular homeostasis. It functions as a Na(+)-independent, passive transporter. SLC29A2 transports nucleosides like inosine, adenosine, uridine, thymidine, cytidine, and guanosine, as well as purine nucleobases (hypoxanthine, adenine, guanine) and pyrimidine nucleobases (thymine, uracil). It is involved in nucleoside transport at the basolateral membrane of kidney cells, enabling liver absorption of nucleoside metabolites. SLC29A2 mediates apical nucleoside uptake into Sertoli cells, regulating nucleoside transport in the testis across the blood-testis-barrier. It mediates both the influx and efflux of hypoxanthine in skeletal muscle microvascular endothelial cells, controlling the amount of intracellular hypoxanthine available for xanthine oxidase-mediated ROS production.
SLC29A2 is also known as DER12, ENT2, HNP36, hENT2.
