PUBLICATION

Biophysical properties of zebrafish ether-à-go-go related gene potassium channels

Authors
Scholz, E.P., Niemer, N., Hassel, D., Zitron, E., Bürgers, H.F., Bloehs, R., Seyler, C., Scherer, D., Thomas, D., Kathöfer, S., Katus, H.A., Rottbauer, W.A., and Karle, C.A.
ID
ZDB-PUB-090302-6
Date
2009
Source
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications   381(2): 159-164 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Hassel, David, Rottbauer, Wolfgang
Keywords
zERG, hERG, Potassium channel, Delayed rectifier, Repolarization, Arrhythmia, Animal model
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Ether-A-Go-Go Potassium Channels/agonists
  • Ether-A-Go-Go Potassium Channels/genetics
  • Ether-A-Go-Go Potassium Channels/physiology*
  • Humans
  • Membrane Potentials
  • Oocytes
  • Xenopus
  • Zebrafish/genetics
  • Zebrafish/physiology*
  • Zebrafish Proteins/agonists
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics
  • Zebrafish Proteins/physiology*
PubMed
19232322 Full text @ Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun.
Abstract
The zebrafish is increasingly recognized as an animal model for the analysis of hERG-related diseases. However, functional properties of the zebrafish orthologue of hERG have not been analyzed yet. We heterologously expressed cloned ERG channels in Xenopus oocytes and analyzed biophysical properties using the voltage clamp technique. zERG channels conduct rapidly activating and inactivating potassium currents. However, compared to hERG, the half-maximal activation voltage of zERG current is shifted towards more positive potentials and the half maximal steady-state inactivation voltage is shifted towards more negative potentials. zERG channel activation is delayed and channel deactivation is accelerated significantly. However, time course of zERG conducted current under action potential clamp is highly similar to the human orthologue. In summary, we show that ERG channels in zebrafish exhibit biophysical properties similar to the human orthologue. Considering the conserved channel function, the zebrafish represents a valuable model to investigate human ERG channel related diseases.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping