Worm Breeder's Gazette 12(3): 51 (June 15, 1992)
These abstracts should not be cited in bibliographies. Material contained herein should be treated as personal communication and should be cited as such only with the consent of the author.
To understand the signal transduction pathway in muscle structures (the excitation-contraction coupling), cloning of calcium channel genes is in progress. Using the cDNA clone of the rabbit skeletal ryanodine receptor (Takeshima et al, 1989) as a probe, we have cloned a C. elegans homolog by screening a cDNA library (provided by Barstead and Waterston). The amino-acid sequence homology search revealed that the deduced amino acid sequence was highly homologous to the calcium release channel region of rabbit and human ryanodine receptors (about 47% identical in total extent, not included equivalent amino acid residues). The amino acid residues of putative transmembrane segments M1 , M3 and M4 were conserved at the rate of 62.5%, 66.6%, 85%, respectively, but less conserved in the segment M2 (25% identical). Genome mapping may tell us which mutant encodes the cloned gene. Are there any foot regions or ligand binding sites? Many interesting questions will be solved by processing this clone.