Cloning of a human ether-a-go-go potassium channel expressed in myoblasts at the onset of fusion

An early sign of human myoblast commitment to fusion is the expression of a non-inactivating delayed rectifier K+ current, I-K(NI), and an associated membrane potential hyperpolarization, We have isolated the full-length coding region of a human ether-a-go-go K+ channel (h-eag) from myoblasts undergoing differentiation. The h-eag gene was localized to chromosome 1q32-41, and is expressed as a similar to 9 kb transcript in myogenic cells and in adult brain tissue. Forced expression of h-eng in undifferentiated myoblasts generates a current with remarkable similarity to I-K(NI) indicating that h-eag constitutes the channel responsible for this current in vivo. (C) 1998 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.