Ai. Mcclatchey et al., THE CLONING AND EXPRESSION OF A SODIUM-CHANNEL BETA-1-SUBUNIT CDNA FROM HUMAN BRAIN, Human molecular genetics, 2(6), 1993, pp. 745-749
Electrical excitability of neurons and muscle cells is mediated largel
y through the actions of the voltage-gated sodium channel. Initiation
and propagation of the action potential is a direct result of the prec
isely controlled inward flux of sodium through these channels. Much at
tention has been paid to the sodium channel alpha-subunit, the major,
pore-forming component. However, alpha-subunits are associated with on
e or more smaller beta-subunits, which have been implicated in the cri
tical fine tuning of the gating properties of the channel. To investig
ate the properties of the beta-subunit, we have isolated a cDNA encodi
ng the human brain beta1-subunit and assigned the corresponding gene t
o chromosome 19. We have also examined the effects of expressing the b
rain beta1-subunit on the kinetics of a coexpressed muscle sodium chan
nel alpha-subunit. Our results underscore the functional importance of
the beta1-subunit and imply a conserved mechanism for the interaction
of the beta1-subunit with different alpha-subunits.