VOLTAGE-GATED POTASSIUM CHANNEL GENES ARE CLUSTERED IN PARALOGOUS REGIONS OF THE MOUSE GENOME

Cloning of the Drosophila Shaker gene established that a neurological phenotype including locomotor dysfunction can be caused by a mutation in a voltage-gated potassium (K) channel gene. Shaker sequences have b een used to isolate a large family of related K channel genes from bot h flies and mammals. Toward elucidating the evolutionary relationship between loci and the potential causal connection that K channels may h ave to mammalian genetic disorders, we report here the genetic mapping of 12-16 different murine, voltage-gated K channel genes. We find tha t multiple genes, in some cases from distantly related K channel subfa milies, occur in clusters in the mouse genome. These mapping results s uggest that the K channel gene subfamilies arose through ancient local ized gene duplication events, followed by chromosomal duplications and rearrangements as well as further gene duplication. We also note that several neurologic disorders of both mouse and human are associated w ith the chromosomal regions containing K channel genes. (C) 1994 Acade mic Press, Inc.