Disease relevance of unc-38

• Mutations in one levamisole receptor gene, unc-38, also conferred both hypersensitivity and reduced peak response to serotonin; thus nicotinic receptors may play a role in regulating serotonin response pathways in the egg-laying neuromusculature [1].

High impact information on unc-38

• This response was eliminated in mutants lacking either the unc-38 or unc-29 genes, which encode alpha and non-alpha acetylcholine receptor subunits, respectively [2].
• We show that three of the eleven genes of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans that mediate resistance to the nematocide levamisole and to other cholinergic agonists encode nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subunits. unc-38 encodes an alpha subunit while lev-1 and unc-29 encode non-alpha subunits [3].
• Expression in Xenopus oocytes of combinations of these subunits that include the unc-38 alpha subunit results in levamisole-induced currents that are suppressed by the nAChR antagonists mecamylamine, neosurugatoxin, and d-tubocurarine but not alpha-bungarotoxin [3].
• A T. colubriformis genomic library in lambda EMBL3 was screened for sequences homologous to the Caenorhabditis elegans unc-38 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) alpha-subunit gene [4].
• Hcal is related to unc-38, a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit gene associated with levamisole resistance in Caenorhabditis elegans [5].

Biological context of unc-38

• The mutant phenotypes reveal that unc-38 and unc-29 subunits are necessary for nAChR function, whereas the lev-1 subunit is not [3].

Other interactions of unc-38

• Quantification of the fluorescence is possible, as verified by demonstrating that mutations in ric-3 and unc-38, which cause behavioural resistance to cholinergic agonists, strongly reduce or even abolish nAChR cell surface expression [6].
• Together with five other alpha subunit genes described elsewhere by ourselves (unc-38) and other workers (deg-3, acr-4, Ce21 and acr-6), this is now the largest known family of nAChR alpha subunit genes in a single species [7].

References