Potassium Voltage Gated Channel Shaw Related Subfamily, Member 3 (KCNC3)

The Shaker gene family of Drosophila encodes components of voltage-gated potassium channels and comprises four subfamilies. Based on sequence similarity, this gene is similar to one of these subfamilies, namely the Shaw subfamily. KCNC3 belongs to the delayed rectifier class of channel proteins and is an integral membrane protein that mediates the voltage-dependent potassium ion permeability of excitable membranes.

In the mouse the gene encodes a protein of 679 amino acids. Unlike the vertebrate Shaker-related genes that have intronless coding regions, mouse Kv3.3 is encoded by at least 2 exons separated by 3 kb of intervening sequence. Multiple Kv3.3-hybridizing transcripts were found in mouse brain, liver, thymus, and heart.