NUTRIENT ABSORPTION

Considerable advances occurred during the past year in nutrient absorp tion. The movement of triacylglycerol from the endoplasmic reticulum t o the Golgi was studied with the finding that it is likely a vesicle-b ased cytosolic protein dependent on ATP and that the delivery is speci fic for intestinal Golgi. With respect to gene regulation, important i nformation concerning the editing of the full length apolipoprotein B transcript was generated, including the identification of two promoter s that are tissue specific and a polymorphism in the human gene that p roduces a frame shift resulting in a truncated, inactive apobec-1 pept ide. Intestinal fatty acid binding protein was shown to be induced by peptide YY. The cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator was shown to b e more closely linked to the Na+-glucose cotransporter than expected. Mutations in the Na+-glucose and ileal Na+-bile acid cotransporter wer e shown to account for congenital glucose/galactose and bile acid mala bsorption, respectively.