Vesicular acetylcholine transporter

SLC18A3
Identifiers
Aliases	SLC18A3, VACHT, solute carrier family 18 member A3, CMS21
External IDs	OMIM: 600336; MGI: 1101061; GeneCards: SLC18A3
Gene location (Human)
Chr.	Chromosome 10 (human)
End	49,612,720 bp
Gene location (Mouse)
Chr.	Chromosome 14 (mouse)
End	32,186,807 bp
RNA expression pattern
	Top expressed in
	gonad; ; putamen; ; caudate nucleus; ; placenta; ; muscle layer of sigmoid colon; ; nucleus accumbens; ; hypothalamus; ; C1 segment; ; muscle tissue; ; pituitary gland;
	Top expressed in
	lumbar subsegment of spinal cord; ; facial motor nucleus; ; anterior horn of spinal cord; ; habenula; ; neural tube; ; embryo; ; superior frontal gyrus; ; basal plate; ; embryo; ; neural layer of retina;
	More reference expression data
	n/a
Gene ontology
Molecular function	acetylcholine binding; acetylcholine transmembrane transporter activity;
Cellular component	integral component of membrane; plasma membrane; clathrin-sculpted acetylcholine transport vesicle membrane; AP-2 adaptor complex; AP-1 adaptor complex; clathrin-coated vesicle membrane; presynapse; membrane; terminal bouton;
Biological process	neurotransmitter transport; neurotransmitter secretion; transmembrane transport; ammonium transmembrane transport; membrane organization; xenobiotic transmembrane transport; organic cation transport; acetate ester transport;
	Sources:Amigo / QuickGO
Orthologs
Databases	NCBI: entry; OMA: entry
	6572
	20508
	ENSG00000187714
	ENSMUSG00000100241
	Q16572
	O35304; Q3TYJ1
	NM_003055
	NM_021712
	NP_003046
	NP_068358
	Wikidata
View/Edit Human	View/Edit Mouse

The Vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) is a neurotransmitter transporter which is responsible for loading acetylcholine (ACh) into secretory organelles in neurons making acetylcholine available for secretion.^[5]^[6] It is encoded by Solute carrier family 18, member 3 (SLC18A3) gene, located within the first intron of the choline acetyltransferase gene. VAChT is able to transport ACh into vesicles by relying on an exchange between protons (H⁺) that were previously pumped into the vesicle diffusing out, thus acting as an antiporter. ACh molecules are then carried into the vesicle by the action of exiting protons.^[7] Acetylcholine transport utilizes a proton gradient established by a vacuolar ATPase.