Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 24 December 1999:
Vol. 286. no. 5449, pp. 2501 - 2504
DOI: 10.1126/science.286.5449.2501
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

A Mutation in the C. elegans EXP-2 Potassium Channel That Alters Feeding Behavior

M. Wayne Davis, 1*dagger Richard Fleischhauer, 2 Joseph A. Dent, 1ddagger Rolf H. Joho, 2 Leon Avery 1

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.

1 Department of Molecular Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-9148, USA.
2 The Center for Basic Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-9111, USA.
*   Present address: Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0840, USA.

dagger    To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: wdavis{at}biology.utah.edu

ddagger    Present address: Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, PQ H3A 1B1, Canada.

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
An Arrhythmia Susceptibility Gene in Caenorhabditis elegans.
K. H. Park and F. Sesti (2007)
J. Biol. Chem. 282, 19799-19807
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Revisiting the Krogh Principle in the post-genome era: Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system for integrative physiology research.
K. Strange (2007)
J. Exp. Biol. 210, 1622-1631
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
CCA-1, EGL-19 and EXP-2 currents shape action potentials in the Caenorhabditis elegans pharynx.
B. Shtonda and L. Avery (2005)
J. Exp. Biol. 208, 2177-2190
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The C. elegans T-type calcium channel CCA-1 boosts neuromuscular transmission.
K. A. Steger, B. B. Shtonda, C. Thacker, T. P. Snutch, and L. Avery (2005)
J. Exp. Biol. 208, 2191-2203
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Alternative splicing of N- and C-termini of a C. elegans ClC channel alters gating and sensitivity to external Cl- and H+.
J. Denton, K. Nehrke, E. Rutledge, R. Morrison, and K. Strange (2004)
J. Physiol. 555, 97-114
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
sup-9, sup-10, and unc-93 May Encode Components of a Two-Pore K+ Channel that Coordinates Muscle Contraction in Caenorhabditis elegans.
I. P. de la Cruz, J. Z. Levin, C. Cummins, P. Anderson, and H. R. Horvitz (2003)
J. Neurosci. 23, 9133-9145
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Regulation of Intermuscular Electrical Coupling by the Caenorhabditis elegans Innexin inx-6.
S. Li, J. A. Dent, and R. Roy (2003)
Mol. Biol. Cell 14, 2630-2644
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Caenorhabditis elegans UNC-103 ERG-Like Potassium Channel Regulates Contractile Behaviors of Sex Muscles in Males before and during Mating.
L. R. Garcia and P. W. Sternberg (2003)
J. Neurosci. 23, 2696-2705
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From Genes to Integrative Physiology: Ion Channel and Transporter Biology in Caenorhabditis elegans.
K. Strange (2003)
Physiol Rev 83, 377-415
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Deficiencies in C20 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Cause Behavioral and Developmental Defects in Caenorhabditis elegans fat-3 Mutants.
J. L. Watts, E. Phillips, K. R. Griffing, and J. Browse (2003)
Genetics 163, 581-589
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Ionic Basis of the Resting Membrane Potential and Action Potential in the Pharyngeal Muscle of Caenorhabditis elegans.
C. J. Franks, D. Pemberton, I. Vinogradova, A. Cook, R. J. Walker, and L. Holden-Dye (2002)
J Neurophysiol 87, 954-961
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
feh-1 and apl-1, the Caenorhabditis elegans orthologues of mammalian Fe65 and {beta}-amyloid precursor protein genes, are involved in the same pathway that controls nematode pharyngeal pumping.
N. Zambrano, M. Bimonte, S. Arbucci, D. Gianni, T. Russo, and P. Bazzicalupo (2002)
J. Cell Sci. 115, 1411-1422
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
unc-83 encodes a novel component of the nuclear envelope and is essential for proper nuclear migration.
D. A. Starr, G. J. Hermann, C. J. Malone, W. Fixsen, J. R. Priess, H. R. Horvitz, and M. Han (2001)
Development 128, 5039-5050
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Dynamic Interaction of S5 and S6 during Voltage-Controlled Gating in a Potassium Channel.
F. Espinosa, R. Fleischhauer, A. McMahon, and R. H. Joho (2001)
J. Gen. Physiol. 118, 157-170
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mutants of a Temperature-Sensitive Two-P Domain Potassium Channel.
M. T. Kunkel, D. B. Johnstone, J. H. Thomas, and L. Salkoff (2000)
J. Neurosci. 20, 7517-7524
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The S4-S5 linker couples voltage sensing and activation of pacemaker channels.
J. Chen, J. S. Mitcheson, M. Tristani-Firouzi, M. Lin, and M. C. Sanguinetti (2001)
PNAS 98, 11277-11282
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)