Abstract
The nematode pharynx has a potassium channel with unusual properties, which allows the muscles to repolarize quickly and with the proper delay. Here, the Caenorhabditis elegans exp-2 gene is shown to encode this channel. EXP-2 is a Kv-type (voltage-activated) potassium channel that has inward-rectifying properties resembling those of the structurally dissimilar human ether-à-go-go-related gene (HERG) channel. Null and gain-of-function mutations affect pharyngeal muscle excitability in ways that are consistent with the electrophysiological behavior of the channel, and thereby demonstrate a direct link between the kinetics of this unusual channel and behavior.
Publication types
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Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
MeSH terms
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Action Potentials
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Animals
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Caenorhabditis elegans / genetics
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Caenorhabditis elegans / physiology*
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Feeding Behavior
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Genes, Helminth
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Genes, Reporter
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Ion Channel Gating
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Kinetics
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Membrane Potentials
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Models, Molecular
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Muscles / metabolism
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Mutation
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Neurons / metabolism
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Oocytes / metabolism
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Pharyngeal Muscles / physiology
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Potassium Channels / chemistry
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Potassium Channels / genetics
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Potassium Channels / physiology*
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Protein Conformation
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RNA, Complementary / genetics
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Recombinant Fusion Proteins / biosynthesis
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Xenopus laevis
Substances
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Potassium Channels
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RNA, Complementary
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Recombinant Fusion Proteins