CONSTITUITIVELY OPEN VOLTAGE-GATED K<+> CHANNELS AND METHODS FOR DISCOVERING MODULATORS THEREOF

摘要

The present invention provides voltage-gated K<+> channels with amino acid substitutions that produce a constituitively open phenotype when expressed in the cell. The invention includes mutated purified proteins with constituitively open voltage-gated K<+> channel activity, for example those derived from Shaker, Shab, Shal, and Shaw family of voltage-gated K<+> channels. The invention also includes nucleic acid encoding constituitively open voltage-gated K<+> channels, as well as cells and transgenic animals expressing constituitively open voltage-gated K<+> channels. Methods are provided for screening substances for ability to modulate voltage-gated K<+> channels, by exploiting the ability of constituitively active voltage-gated K<+> channels to affect growth or other phenotypic or genotypic characteristics in eukaryotic cells.