Description
Product Characteristics: Function: Probably important in the regulation of neuronal excitability. Associates with KCNQ2 or KCNQ5 to form a potassium channel with essentially identical properties to the channel underlying the native M-current, a slowly activating and deactivating potassium conductance which plays a critical role in determining the subthreshold electrical excitability of neurons as well as the responsiveness to synaptic inputs. Tissue specificity: Predominantly expressed in brain. Expressed in brain and sympathetic ganglia. In brain, expressed in cortex, hippocampus and at much lower levels in cerebellum. In sympathetic ganglia, expressed at approximately equal levels in both superior cervical ganglia and prevertebral ganglia. Subcellular location: Membrane, Multi-pass membrane protein.,Voltage-gated,Potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily KQT member 3, Voltage-gated potassium channel subunit Kv7.3, Potassium channel subunit alpha KvLQT3, KQT-like 3
Target Information: The M channel is a slowly activating and deactivating potassium channel that plays a critical role in the regulation of neuronal excitability. The M channel is formed by the association of the protein encoded by this gene and one of two related proteins encoded by the KCNQ2 and KCNQ5 genes, both integral membrane proteins. M channel currents are inhibited by M1 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors and activated by retigabine, a novel anti-convulsant drug. Defects in this gene are a cause of benign familial neonatal convulsions type 2 (BFNC2), also known as epilepsy, benign neonatal type 2 (EBN2). Two variants encoding distinct isoforms have been found. [provided by RefSeq, Mar 2011]