In contrast to other members of the Eag family of voltage-gated, outwardly rectifying potassium channels, the human eag-related gene (HERG) has now been shown to encode an inwardly rectifying potassium channel. The properties of HERG channels are consistent with the gating properties of Eag-related and other outwardly rectifying, S4-containing potassium channels, but with the addition of an inactivation mechanism that attenuates potassium efflux during depolarization. Because mutations in HERG cause a form of long-QT syndrome, these properties of HERG channel function may be critical to the maintenance of normal cardiac rhythmicity.

We have identified a conserved family of genes related to Drosophila eag, which encodes a distinct type of voltage-activated K channel. Three related genes were recovered in screens of cDNA libraries from Drosophila, mouse, and human tissues. One gene is the mouse counterpart of eag; the other two represent additional subfamilles. The human gene maps to chromosome 7. Family members share at least 47% amino acid identity in their hydrophobic cores and all contain a segment homologous to a cyclic nucleotide-bindig domain. Sequence comparisons indicate that members of this family are most closely related to vertebrate cyclic nudleotidegated cation channels and plant inward-rectifying K+ channels. The existence of another family of K+ channel structural genes further extends the known diversity of Ki channels and has important implications for the structure, function, and evolution of the superfamily of voltage-sensitive ion channels.Voltage-activated ion channels are members of evolutionarily conserved multigene families (1, 2). For example, the Shaker (Sh) family of K+ channels comprises four related genes in Drosophila, each of which has one or more mammalian homologs (3). Together these genes define at least four subfamilies of voltage-activated K+ channels within the Sh family. Most of our present understanding of the structure and function of K+ channels is based on studies of the polypeptides encoded by these genes (4).Analysis ofother K+ channels that are not members ofthe Sh family will expand our understanding of these channels. Genes encoding additional types of K+ channels can be identified in Drosophila via molecular analysis of mutations affecting membrane excitability (5). Mutations of eag, identified by their leg-shaking phenotype, cause repetitive firing and enhanced transmitter release in motor neurons, suggesting a possible defect in K+ channels (6,7). Molecular studies revealed that eag encodes a polypeptide structurally related both to K+ channels in the Sh family and to cyclic nucleotide-gated cation channels (8-10). Expression in Xenopus oocytes confirms that the eag polypeptide assembles into channels conducting a voltageactivated K+-selective outward current (11,12

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Many of the signaling properties of neurons and other electrically excitable cells are determined by a diverse family of potassium channels. A number of genes that encode potassium channel polypeptides have been cloned from various organisms on the basis of their sequence similarity to the Drosophila Shaker (Sh) locus. As an alternative strategy, a molecular analysis of other Drosophila genes that were defined by mutations that perturb potassium channel function was undertaken. Sequence analysis of complementary DNA from the ether à go-go (eag) locus revealed that it encodes a structural component of potassium channels that is related to but is distinct from all identified potassium channel polypeptides.

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster was used to examine the mode of action of the novel insecticide and acaricide nodulisporic acid. Flies resistant to nodulisporic acid were selected by stepwise increasing the dose of drug in the culture media. The resistant strain, glc 1 , is at least 20-fold resistant to nodulisporic acid and 3-fold cross-resistant to the parasiticide ivermectin, and exhibited decreased brood size, decreased locomotion, and bang sensitivity. Binding assays using glc 1 head membranes showed a marked decrease in the affinity for nodulisporic acid and ivermectin. A combination of genetics and sequencing identified a proline to serine mutation (P299S) in the gene coding for the glutamategated chloride channel subunit DmGluCl␣. To examine the effect of this mutation on the biophysical properties of DmGluCl␣ channels, it was introduced into a recombinant DmGluCl␣, and RNA encoding wild-type and mutant subunits was injected into Xenopus oocytes. Nodulisporic acid directly activated wild-type and mutant DmGluCl␣ channels. However, mutant channels were Ϸ10-fold less sensitive to activation by nodulisporic acid, as well as ivermectin and the endogenous ligand glutamate, providing direct evidence that nodulisporic acid and ivermectin act on DmGluCl␣ channels.

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kdr and super-kdr are mutations in houseflies and other insects that confer 30- and 500-fold resistance to the pyrethroid deltamethrin. They correspond to single (L1014F) and double (L1014F+M918T) mutations in segment IIS6 and linker II(S4–S5) of Na channels. We expressed Drosophila para Na channels with and without these mutations and characterized their modification by deltamethrin. All wild-type channels can be modified by <10 nM deltamethrin, but high affinity binding requires channel opening: (a) modification is promoted more by trains of brief depolarizations than by a single long depolarization, (b) the voltage dependence of modification parallels that of channel opening, and (c) modification is promoted by toxin II from Anemonia sulcata, which slows inactivation. The mutations reduce channel opening by enhancing closed-state inactivation. In addition, these mutations reduce the affinity for open channels by 20- and 100-fold, respectively. Deltamethrin inhibits channel closing and the mutations reduce the time that channels remain open once drug has bound. The super-kdr mutations effectively reduce the number of deltamethrin binding sites per channel from two to one. Thus, the mutations reduce both the potency and efficacy of insecticide action.

The eag family of K+ channels contains three known subtypes: eag, elk, and erg. Genes representing the first two subtypes have been identified in flies and mammals, whereas the third subtype has been defined only by the human HERG gene, which encodes an inwardly rectifying channel that is mutated in some cardiac arrhythmias. To establish the predicted existence of a Drosophila gene in the erg subfamily and to learn more about the structure and biological function of channels within this subfamily, we undertook a search for the Drosophila counterpart of HERG. Here we report the isolation and characterization of the Drosophila erg gene. We show that it corresponds with the previously identified seizure (sei) locus, mutations of which cause a temperature-sensitive paralytic phenotype associated with hyperactivity in the flight motor pathway. These results yield new insights into the structure and evolution of the eag family of channels, provide a molecular explanation for the sei mutant phenotype, and demonstrate the important physiological roles of erg-type channels from invertebrates to mammals.