Cystine/glutamate transporter

SLC7A11
Identifiers
Aliases	SLC7A11, CCBR1, xCT, solute carrier family 7 member 11
External IDs	OMIM: 607933; MGI: 1347355; HomoloGene: 22684; GeneCards: SLC7A11; OMA:SLC7A11 - orthologs
Gene location (Human)
Chr.	Chromosome 4 (human)
End	138,242,349 bp
Gene location (Mouse)
Chr.	Chromosome 3 (mouse)
End	50,398,063 bp
RNA expression pattern
	Top expressed in
	optic nerve; ; stromal cell of endometrium; ; external globus pallidus; ; internal globus pallidus; ; entorhinal cortex; ; cartilage tissue; ; endothelial cell; ; Medulla Oblongata; ; gingival epithelium; ; superior vestibular nucleus;
	Top expressed in
	secondary oocyte; ; primary oocyte; ; granulocyte; ; zygote; ; choroidal fissure; ; lumbar subsegment of spinal cord; ; dentate gyrus of hippocampal formation granule cell; ; epithelium of lens; ; endothelial cell of lymphatic vessel; ; thymus;
	More reference expression data
	; ; ; ;
	More reference expression data
Gene ontology
Molecular function	cystine:glutamate antiporter activity; protein binding; transmembrane transporter activity; L-amino acid transmembrane transporter activity;
Cellular component	integral component of membrane; rough endoplasmic reticulum; membrane; intracellular membrane-bounded organelle; plasma membrane; cell surface; cytoskeleton; integral component of plasma membrane; brush border membrane; astrocyte projection;
Biological process	response to nicotine; response to oxidative stress; brain development; lens fiber cell differentiation; platelet aggregation; amino acid transport; response to toxic substance; leukocyte migration; transmembrane transport; L-glutamate transmembrane transport; glutathione metabolic process; visual learning; response to organic cyclic compound; ventricular system development; striatum development; adult behavior; regulation of neutrophil apoptotic process; cellular response to oxidative stress; glutathione transmembrane transport; regulation of cell population proliferation; regulation of melanin biosynthetic process; lung alveolus development; modulation of chemical synaptic transmission; regulation of synapse organization; regulation of protein transport; response to redox state; limb development; organic substance transport; glutamate homeostasis; L-glutamate import across plasma membrane; dipeptide import across plasma membrane; regulation of cellular response to oxidative stress; regulation of cysteine metabolic process; negative regulation of oxidative stress-induced neuron death; regulation of glutathione biosynthetic process; regulation of AMPA glutamate receptor clustering; regulation of glutamate metabolic process;
	Sources:Amigo / QuickGO
Orthologs
	23657
	26570
	ENSG00000151012
	ENSMUSG00000027737
	Q9UPY5
	Q9WTR6
	NM_014331
	NM_011990
	NP_055146
	NP_036120
	Wikidata
View/Edit Human	View/Edit Mouse

Cystine/glutamate transporter is an antiporter that in humans is encoded by the SLC7A11 gene.

The SLC7A11 gene encodes a sodium-independent cystine-glutamate antiporter that is chloride dependent, also known as xCT. Along with a heavy chain subunit from SLC3A2, the SLC7A11 light chain comprises system Xc-, which is the functional cystine-glutamate antiporter. While the SLC3A2 heavy chain is a chaperone for many other light chains that participate in amino acid transport, the SLC7A11 light chain is specific for system Xc-, and the terms xCT/SLC7A11 and system Xc- are used interchangeably in much of the literature.

SLC7A11 plays an important role in glutathione production throughout nervous and non-nervous tissues. In the nervous system, SLC7A11 regulates synaptic activity by stimulating extrasynaptic receptors and performs nonvesicular glutamate release. This gene is highly expressed by astrocytes and couples the uptake of one molecule of cystine with the release of one molecule of glutamate. The expression of Xc- was detected throughout the brain with higher expression found in the basolateral amygdala, the retina and the prefrontal cortex. The inhibition of system Xc- has been found to alter a number of behaviors, which suggests that it plays a key role in excitatory signaling.