The nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are members of a superfamily of ligand-gated ion channels that mediate fast signal transmission at synapses. The nAChRs are thought to be hetero-pentamers composed of homologous subunits. The proposed structure for each subunit is a conserved N-terminal extracellular domain followed by three conserved transmembrane domains, a variable cytoplasmic loop, a fourth conserved transmembrane domain, and a short C-terminal extracellular region. The protein encoded by this gene forms a homo-oligomeric channel, displays marked permeability to calcium ions and is a major component of brain nicotinic receptors that are blocked by, and highly sensitive to, alpha-bungarotoxin. Once this receptor binds acetylcholine, it undergoes an extensive change in conformation that affects all subunits and leads to opening of an ion-conducting channel across the plasma membrane. This gene is located in a region identified as a major susceptibility locus for juvenile myoclonic epilepsy and a chromosomal location involved in the genetic transmission of schizophrenia. An evolutionarily recent partial duplication event in this region results in a hybrid containing sequence from this gene and a novel FAM7A gene. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants. [provided by RefSeq, Feb 2012]
Overall distribution
Tissue specific distribution
Expression restricted in 1 cancer type(s)
Overall distribution
Tissue specific distribution
Gscore (Amp):
0.00
Gscore (Del):
0.10
Overall distribution
Tissue specific distribution
Mscore:
0.00
Overall
Tissue specific
Total fusion occurrence:
0
Overall
Tissue specific
Functional class:
Not specified
JensenLab PubMed score:
NA (Percentile rank: NA)
PubTator score:
NA (Percentile rank: NA)
Target development/druggability level:
Tractability (small molecule):
Clinical PrecedenceTargets with drugs in phase II or above; Pre-clinical targets
Tractability (antibody):
Predicted Tractable - High confidenceTargets located in the plasma membrane; Targets with GO cell component terms plasma membrane or secreted
