Fucosyltransferase 8 (FUT8)

FUT8 belongs to the family of fucosyltransferases. The product of this gene catalyzes the transfer of fucose from GDP-fucose to N-linked type complex glycopeptides. This enzyme is distinct from other fucosyltransferases which catalyze alpha1-2, alpha1-3, and alpha1-4 fucose addition. The expression of this gene may contribute to the malignancy of cancer cells and to their invasive and metastatic capabilities. Alternatively spliced variants encoding different isoforms have been identified.FUT8 is represented more frequently, possibly indicating that it has a higher level of expression than other FUT genes. They also identified a slightly longer alternatively spliced variant of FUT8 from retina cDNA libraries. The gene encodes a 575-amino acid polypeptide that has little sequence homology to other human fucosyltransferases.