Identification of three novel Ca(2+) channel gamma subunit genes reveals molecular diversification by tandem and chromosome duplication.

ABSTRACT: Gene duplication is believed to be an important evolutionary mechanism for generating functional diversity within genomes. The accumulated products of ancient duplication events can be readily observed among the genes encoding voltage-dependent Ca(2+) ion channels. Ten paralogous genes have been identified that encode isoforms of the alpha(1) subunit, four that encode beta subunits, and three that encode alpha(2)delta subunits. Until recently, only a single gene encoding a muscle-specific isoform of the Ca(2+) channel gamma subunit (CACNG1) was known. Expression of a distantly related gene in the brain was subsequently demonstrated upon isolation of the Cacng2 gene, which is mutated in the mouse neurological mutant stargazer (stg). In this study, we sought to identify additional genes that

SUBMITTER: Burgess DL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC311002 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature