Title: Identification of a putative regulatory subunit of a calcium-activated potassium channel in the dup(3q) syndrome region and a related sequence on 22q11.2.

Authors: M A Riazi, P Brinkman-Mills, A Johnson, S L Naylor, S Minoshima, N Shimizu, A Baldini, H E McDermid

Journal, date & volume: Genomics, 1999 Nov 15 , 62, 90-4

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10585773

Abstract
Duplication of a segment of the long arm of human chromosome 3 (3q26.3-q27) results in a syndrome characterized by multiple congenital abnormalities and neurological anomalies in some patients. We have identified a novel gene (KCNMB3) that maps to this region. KCNMB3 has significant sequence similarity to the regulatory subunit of the large-conductance calcium-activated potassium channel. Due to the significance of potassium channels in neuronal functions, the overexpression of this gene may play a role in the abnormal neurological functions seen in some of these patients. A related sequence corresponding to the second and third exons of this gene resides in the pericentromeric region of 22q11, where a number of other unprocessed pseudogenes are known to map.