insulin

After removal of the precursor signal peptide, proinsulin is post-translationally cleaved into three peptides: the B chain and A chain peptides, which are covalently linked via two disulfide bonds to form insulin, and C-peptide. Binding of insulin to the insulin receptor (INSR) stimulates glucose uptake. A multitude of mutant alleles with phenotypic effects have been identified. There is a read-through gene, INS-IGF2, which overlaps with this gene at the 5' region and with the IGF2 gene at the 3' region. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants. [provided by RefSeq, Jun 2010]

Insulin is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets; it is considered to be the main anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and protein by promoting the absorption of glucose from the blood into liver, fat and skeletal muscle cells.