Alternative splicing contributes to K+ channel diversity in the mammalian central nervous system.

作者：Christopher J. Luneau, Jacinta B. Williams, John Marshall, Edwin S. Levitan, Carlos Oliva, Jeffrey S. Smith, Joanne Antanavage, Kimberly Folander, Robert Benjamin Stein, Richard Swanson · 发表于：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 年份：1991 · DOI：10.1073/pnas.88.9.3932 · 被引用次数：173 · 研究领域：RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms、RNA Research and Splicing、Ion channel regulation and function

In an attempt to define the molecular basis of the functional diversity of K+ channels, we have isolated overlapping rat brain cDNAs that encoded a neuronal delayed rectifier K+ channel, K,4, that is structurally related to the Drosophila Shaw protein. Unlike previously characterized mammalian K+ channel genes, which each contain a single protein-coding exon, K,4 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.