Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Sci. STKE, 28 November 2000
Vol. 2000, Issue 60, p. tw8
[DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.602000tw8]

EDITORS' CHOICE

Channels Serotonin-Gated Cl- Channels

Ranganathan, Cannon, and Horvitz discovered a new type of Cl- channel that is activated by serotonin. MOD-1 was isolated using a genetic screen for a locomotor behavior defect in the worm, Caenorhabditis elegans. The MOD-1 gene encodes a protein homologous to chloride channels of the GABA and glycine receptors. When expressed in oocytes or transfected into HEK293 cells, the channel was activated by serotonin and exhibited a reversal potential consistent with Cl- as the charge carrier that varied with external Cl- concentration. The channel was impermeant to cations and did not have a pharmacological profile like that of the serotonin-gated cation channel. The function of MOD-1 was explored in C. elegans. Worms with mutations or lacking the MOD-1 gene exhibited a specific type of increased locomotor activity consistent with serotonin's involvement as an inhibitor of this behavior.

Ranganathan, R., Cannon, S.C., and Horvitz, H.R. (2000) MOD-1 is a serotonin-gated chloride channel that modulates locomotory behaviour in C. elegans. Nature 408: 470-475. [Online Journal]

Citation: Serotonin-Gated Cl- Channels. Sci. STKE 2000, tw8 (2000).

To Advertise     Find Products

Science Signaling. ISSN 1937-9145 (online), 1945-0877 (print). Pre-2008: Science's STKE. ISSN 1525-8882