Sodium/Potassium/Calcium Exchanger 1 (NCKX1)

SLC24A1 belongs to a family of potassium-dependent sodium/calcium exchangers. Members of this family have 2 large hydrophilic loops and 2 sets of multiple transmembrane-spanning segments.By screening a human retinal cDNA library using the entire bovine rod sodium/potassium/calcium exchanger cDNA as a probe, Tucker et al. (1998) cloned the human NCKX1 gene. Human NCKX1 codes for a protein of 1,081 amino acids that shows 64% overall identity with the bovine protein. The 2 sets of putative transmembrane domains and their short connecting loops showed 94% identity, while the extracellular loop at the amino terminus was only 59% identical. Tucker et al. (1998) determined the genomic structure of the NCKX1 gene and found 1 intron in the 5-prime untranslated region and 8 within the coding region. Exon length varies from 54 to 2,037 bp.