A broad survey of choanoflagellates revises the evolutionary history of the Shaker family of voltage-gated K⁺ channels in animals.

ABSTRACT: The Shaker family of voltage-gated K⁺ channels has been thought of as an animal-specific ion channel family that diversified in concert with nervous systems. It comprises four functionally independent gene subfamilies (Kv1-4) that encode diverse neuronal K⁺ currents. Comparison of animal genomes predicts that only the Kv1 subfamily was present in the animal common ancestor. Here, we show that some choanoflagellates, the closest protozoan sister lineage to animals, also have Shaker family K⁺ channels. Choanoflagellate Shaker family channels are surprisingly most closely related to the animal Kv2-4 subfamilies which were believed to have evolved only after the divergence of ctenophores and sponges from cnidarians and bilaterians. Structural modeling predicts

SUBMITTER: Jegla T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11287247 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature