Solute Carrier Family 30, Member 3 (SLC30A3)

By screening a human temporal cortex cDNA library with a mouse zinc transporter-3 (Znt3) cDNA, Palmiter et al. (1996) cloned cDNAs encoding ZNT3.The predicted 388-amino acid ZNT3 protein has 6 transmembrane domains, with the N and C termini located in the cytoplasm. The human and mouse ZNT3 proteins are 86% identical. Northern blot and RT-PCR analyses of mouse tissues detected Znt3 transcripts only in brain and testis. By in situ hybridization of mouse brain, Znt3 mRNA was most abundant in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. Immunohistochemical analysis of brain using antibodies against Znt3 detected protein expression in a pattern similar to that of histochemically localized vesicular zinc.