PUBLICATION

Conservation within the RIC-3 gene family. Effectors of mammalian nicotinic acetylcholine receptor expression

Authors
Halevi, S., Yassin, L., Eshel, M., Sala, F., Sala, S., Criado, M., and Treinin, M.
ID
ZDB-PUB-040318-1
Date
2003
Source
The Journal of biological chemistry   278(36): 34411-34417 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • RNA, Messenger/metabolism
  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins/chemistry*
  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins/metabolism
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Animals
  • Electrophysiology
  • Humans
  • Cell Membrane/metabolism
  • Receptors, Nicotinic/chemistry*
  • Receptors, Nicotinic/metabolism
  • In Situ Hybridization
  • Tissue Distribution
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Structure, Tertiary
  • Receptors, Serotonin/chemistry
  • Receptors, Serotonin, 5-HT3
  • Blotting, Northern
  • Protein Isoforms
  • Xenopus laevis
  • Muscles/metabolism
  • Neurons/metabolism
  • Conserved Sequence
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Mice
  • Xenopus
  • Databases as Topic
  • Brain/metabolism
  • Rats
PubMed
12821669 Full text @ J. Biol. Chem.
Abstract
In Caenorhabditis elegans, the ric-3 gene is required for the maturation of multiple nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), whereas other neurotransmittergated channels expressed within the same cells are unaffected by the presence of RIC-3. Here we show that RIC-3 is a member of a conserved gene family with representatives in both vertebrates and invertebrates. All members of this family have two transmembrane domains followed by a coiled-coil domain. Expression of the human ric-3 homolog, hric3, like the C. elegans ric-3, enhances C. elegans DEG-3/DES-2, rat 7, and human 7 nAChR-dependent whole-cell current amplitudes in Xenopus leavis oocytes, thus demonstrating functional conservation. However, hric3 also reduces human 42 and 34 nAChR-dependent whole-cell current amplitudes. Thus, hric3 shows differential effects on human nAChRs unlike the observed uniform effect of ric-3 on C. elegans nAChRs. Moreover, hric3 totally abolished currents evoked by 5-HT3 serotonin receptors, whereas it barely modified 1 glycine receptor currents. With this caveat, RIC-3 belongs to a conserved family of genes likely to regulate nAChR-mediated transmission throughout evolution. Analysis of transcripts encoded by the hric3 locus shows that it encodes for multiple transcripts, likely to produce multiple hric3 isoforms, and that hric3 is expressed in neurons and muscles, thus enabling its interactions with nAChRs in vivo.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping