Description
Product Characteristics:
Water channel required to promote glycerol permeability and water transport across cell membranes. Acts as a glycerol transporter in skin and plays an important role in regulating SC (stratum corneum) and epidermal glycerol content. Involved in skin hydration, wound healing, and tumorigenesis. Provides kidney medullary collecting duct with high permeability to water, thereby permitting water to move in the direction of an osmotic gradient. Slightly permeable to urea and may function as a water and urea exit mechanism in antidiuresis in collecting duct cells. It may play an important role in gastrointestinal tract water transport and in glycerol metabolism.
Subcellular location: Cell membrane
Synonyms: AQP-2, Aquaporin-3, AQP-3, Aquaglyceroporin-3, Aqp3
Target Information: This gene encodes the water channel protein aquaporin 3. Aquaporins are a family of small integral membrane proteins related to the major intrinsic protein, also known as aquaporin 0. Aquaporin 3 is localized at the basal lateral membranes of collecting duct cells in the kidney. In addition to its water channel function, aquaporin 3 has been found to facilitate the transport of nonionic small solutes such as urea and glycerol, but to a smaller degree. It has been suggested that water channels can be functionally heterogeneous and possess water and solute permeation mechanisms. [provided by RefSeq, Aug 2011]