HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 280, Issue 23, 21893-21899, June 10, 2005

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 280/23/21893    most recent M502732200v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Park, K. H. Articles by Sesti, F. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Park, K. H. Articles by Sesti, F. Social Bookmarking                      What's this?

A Family of K⁺ Channel Ancillary Subunits Regulate Taste Sensitivity in Caenorhabditis elegans^*

Ki Ho Park, Leonardo Hernandez, Shi-Qing Cai, Yi Wang, and Federico Sesti

From the Department of Physiology & Biophysics, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854

We have identified a family of ancillary subunits of K⁺ channels in Caenorhabditis elegans. MPS-1 and its related members MPS-2, MPS-3, and MPS-4 are detected in the nervous system of the nematode. Electrophysiological analysis in ASE neurons and mammalian cells and epigenetic inactivation by double-stranded RNA interference (RNAi) in vivo show that each MPS can associate with and functionally endow the voltage-gated K⁺ channel KVS-1. In the chemosensory neuron ADF, three different MPS subunits combine with KVS-1 to form both binary (MPS-1·KVS-1) and ternary (MPS-2·MPS-3·KVS-1) complexes. RNAi of mps-2, mps-3, or both, enhance the taste of the animal for sodium without altering the susceptibility to other attractants. When sodium is introduced in the test plate as background or as antagonist attractant, the nematode loses the ability to recognize a second attractant. Thus, it appears that the chemosensory apparatus of C. elegans uses sensory thresholds and that a voltage-gated K⁺ channel is specifically required for this mechanism.

Received for publication, March 11, 2005 , and in revised form, March 28, 2005.

^* This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant R01GM68581 and American Heart Association Grant 0235470T (to F. S.). The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dept. of Physiology & Biophysics, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, 683 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854. E-mail: sestife{at}umdnj.edu.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. Rojas, J. Garst-Orozco, B. Baban, J. A. de Santiago-Castillo, M. Covarrubias, and L. Salkoff Cumulative Activation of Voltage-Dependent KVS-1 Potassium Channels J. Neurosci., January 16, 2008; 28(3): 757 - 765. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y. Wang and F. Sesti Molecular Mechanisms Underlying KVS-1-MPS-1 Complex Assembly Biophys. J., November 1, 2007; 93(9): 3083 - 3091. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. H. Park and F. Sesti An Arrhythmia Susceptibility Gene in Caenorhabditis elegans J. Biol. Chem., July 6, 2007; 282(27): 19799 - 19807. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. Gordon, T. K. Roepke, and G. W. Abbott Endogenous KCNE Subunits Govern Kv2.1 K+ Channel Activation Kinetics in Xenopus Oocyte Studies Biophys. J., February 15, 2006; 90(4): 1223 - 1231. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]