Calcium activated K⁺ channels in the electroreceptor of the skate confirmed by cloning. Details of subunits and splicing.

ABSTRACT: Elasmobranchs detect small potentials using excitable cells of the ampulla of Lorenzini which have calcium-activated K(+) channels, first described in 1974. A distinctive feature of the outward current in voltage clamped ampullae is its apparent insensitivity to voltage. The sequence of a BK channel α isoform expressed in the ampulla of the skate was characterized. A signal peptide is present at the beginning of the gene. When compared to human isoform 1 (the canonical sequence), the largest difference was absence of a 59 amino acid region from the S8-S9 intra-cellular linker that contains the strex regulatory domain. The ampulla isoform was also compared with the isoform predicted in late skate embryos where strex was also absent. The BK voltage sensors were conserved in both skate isofor

SUBMITTER: King BL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4724458 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature