PMU-Autor/inn/en
Lehner ChristineAbstract
In Xenopus laevis, several distinct K(+)-channels (xKv1.1, xKv1.2, xKv2,1, xKv2.2, xKv3.1) have been cloned, sequenced, and electrophysiologically characterized. K(+)-channels significantly shape neuronal excitability by setting the membrane potential, and latency and duration of action potentials. We identified a further Shaker homologue, xKv1.4, in X. laevis. The open reading frame encodes a K(+)-channel that shares 72% of its 698 amino acids with the human Shaker homologue, hKv1.4. Northern blot analysis revealed xKv1.4 in the brain, muscle, and spleen but not in the ovary, intestine, heart, liver, kidney, lung, and skin. Whole-cell patch clamp recording from rat basophilic leukaemia (RBL) cells transfected with xKv1.4 revealed a voltage-gated, outward rectifying, transient A-type, K(+) selective current. xKv1.4 was strongly dependent on extracellular K(+). Exposure of cells to K(+) free bath solution almost completely abolished the current, whereas in the presence of high K(+), inactivation in response to a maintained depolarizing step and the frequency-dependent cumulative inactivation decreased. Ion channels encoded by xKv1.4 are sensitive to 4-aminopyridine and quinidine but insensitive to tetraethylammonium and the peptide toxins, charybdotoxin, margatoxin, and dendrotoxin. In conclusion, our results indicate that the biophysical and pharmacological signature of xKv1.4 closely resemble those of the A-current described in Xenopus embryonic neurons and is similar to the human Shaker homologue, hKv1.4.
Useful keywords (using NLM MeSH Indexing)
Animals
Base Sequence
Brain Chemistry/physiology
Cells, Cultured
Female
Gene Expression/physiology
Ion Channel Gating/physiology
Kv1.4 Potassium Channel
Leukemia, Basophilic, Acute
Membrane Potentials/physiology
Molecular Sequence Data
Neurons/cytology
Neurons/physiology*
Patch-Clamp Techniques
Potassium Channels/chemistry
Potassium Channels/genetics*
Potassium Channels/metabolism
Potassium Channels, Voltage-Gated*
Rats
Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
Shaker Superfamily of Potassium Channels
Transfection
Tumor Cells, Cultured
Xenopus Proteins
Xenopus laevis