Alternative Splicing Contributes to K+Channel Diversity in the Mammalian Central Nervous System

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 88; no. 9; pp. 3932 - 3936
• Main Authors: LUNEAU, C. J, WILLIAMS, J. B, KACZMAREK, L. K, BUHROW, S. A, MARSHALL, J, LEVITAN, E. S, OLIVA, C, SMITH, J. S, ANTANAVAGE, J, FOLANDER, K, STEIN, R. B, SWANSON, R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 01.05.1991; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Blotting, Northern; Blotting, Southern; Cloning, Molecular; Complementary DNA; DNA - genetics; DNA probes; Exons; Five prime untranslated regions; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression; Genes; Genomics; Messenger RNA; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular genetics; Molecular Sequence Data; Oligonucleotides - chemistry; Polymerase chain reaction; Potassium Channels - genetics; Rats; RNA; RNA Splicing; RNA, Messenger - genetics; Three prime untranslated regions; Transcription. Transcription factor. Splicing. Rna processing; Untranslated regions; Embryonic development; Brain; Splicing; Rat; Nucleotide sequence; Rodentia; Central nervous system; Ionic channel; Potassium Ions; Structure function relationship; Northern blotting; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Complementary DNA; Southern blotting; Polymorphism
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.88.9.3932

In an attempt to define the molecular basis of the functional diversity of K+channels, we have isolated overlapping rat brain cDNAs that encode a neuronal delayed rectifier K+channel, Kv4, that is structurally related to the Drosophila Shaw protein. Unlike previously characterized mammalian K+channel genes, which each contain a single protein-coding exon, Kv4 arises from alternative exon usage at a locus that also encodes another mammalian Shaw homolog, NGK2. Thus, the enormous diversity of K+channels in mammals can be generated not just through gene duplication and divergence but also through alternative splicing of RNA.