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The Journal of Neuroscience, March 1, 2000, 20(5):1675-1684
Subunits Modulate Alternatively Spliced, Large Conductance,
Calcium-Activated Potassium Channels of Avian Hair Cells
Krishnan
Ramanathan,
Timothy H.
Michael, and
Paul A.
Fuchs
The Center for Hearing Sciences, Department of Biomedical
Engineering and Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery,
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
21205-2195
Electrical tuning confers frequency selectivity onto sensory hair
cells in the auditory periphery of frogs, turtles, and chicks. The
resonant frequency is determined in large part by the number and
kinetics of large conductance, calcium-activated potassium (BK)
channels. BK channels in hair cells are encoded by the alternatively spliced slo gene and may include an accessory subunit. Here we examine the origins of kinetic variability among BK
channels by heterologous expression of avian cochlear
slo cDNAs. Four alternatively spliced forms of the
slo- gene from chick hair cells were co-expressed with accessory subunits (from quail cochlea) by transient
transfection of human embryonic kidney 293 cells. Addition of the subunit increased steady-state calcium affinity, raised the Hill
coefficient for calcium binding, and slowed channel deactivation rates,
resulting in eight functionally distinct channels. For example, a
naturally occurring splice variant containing three additional exons
deactivated 20-fold more slowly when combined with . Deactivation
kinetics were used to predict tuning frequencies and thus tonotopic
location if hair cells were endowed with each of the expressed
channels. All -containing channels were predicted to lie within the
apical (low-frequency) 30% of the epithelium, consistent with previous in situ hybridization studies. Individual
slo- exons would be found anywhere within the
apical 70%, depending on the presence of , and other alternative
exons. Alternative splicing of the slo- channel
message provides intrinsic variability in gating kinetics that is
expanded to a wider range of tuning by modulation with subunits.
Key words:
calcium-activated potassium channel; electrical tuning; subunits; alternative splicing; cochlea; hair cell; avian; chick
Copyright © 2000 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/00/2051675-10$05.00/0
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