L. Pallanck et B. Ganetzky, CLONING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF HUMAN AND MOUSE HOMOLOGS OF THE DROSOPHILA CALCIUM-ACTIVATED POTASSIUM CHANNEL GENE, SLOWPOKE, Human molecular genetics, 3(8), 1994, pp. 1239-1243
Potassium channels play important roles in a wide variety of physiolog
ical processes. Although several genes encoding voltage-activated pota
ssium channels have been analyzed at the molecular level, no calcium-a
ctivated potassium channel gene has yet been characterized in humans.
In an effort to provide the foundation for functional analysis of such
polypeptides we report the cloning of mouse and human homologs of the
Drosophila melanogaster calcium-activated potassium channel gene, slo
wpoke. Both the human and mouse genes encode polypeptides that have mo
re than 50% amino acid identities with their Drosophila counterpart. I
n addition, like the Drosophila slowpoke gene, both the mouse and huma
n genes generate multiple transcripts by alternative splicing. The hum
an gene maps to chromosome 10 based on the results of polymerase chain
reaction analysis of genomic DNA from human-hamster hybrid cell lines
. Because calcium-activated potassium channels participate in wide var
iety of cellular functions including neuromuscular communication, secr
etion and cellular immunity, their continued analysis promises to have
broad biological and medical significance.