A dominant negative isoform of the long QT syndrome 1 gene product

Mutations in the KvLQT1 gene are the cause of the long QT syndrome I, KvLQT1 gene product is associated with the regulator protein IsK to produce a component of the delayed rectifier K+ current in cardiac myocytes, We identified an N-terminal truncated isoform of the KvLQT1 gene product, referred to as isoform 2, In RNase protection assays, isoform 2 represented 28.1 +/- 0.6% of the total KvLQT1 expression in the human adult ventricle, COS-7 cells injected intranuclearly with KvLQT1 isoform 1 cDNA exhibited a fast-activating K+ current, whereas those injected with a KvLQT1 isoform 1 plus IsK cDNA showed a slow-activating K+ current, Cells injected with KvLQT1 isoform 2 plasmid showed no detectable K+ current, Those injected with a 1/1 isoform 2/isoform 1 ratio showed no detectable H+ current, Those injected with 1/5 and 2/5 ratios showed a K+ current with markedly reduced amplitude, Coexpression of the IsK regulator consistently reduced the dominant negative effects of isoform 2, Our results indicate that KvLQT1 isoform 2 exerts a pronounced negative dominance on isoform 1 channels and that the cardiac KvLQT1 K+ channel complex is composed of at least three different proteins as follows: isoform 1, isoform 2, and IsK.