The epithelial sodium channel in the Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri (Osteichthyes: Dipnoi).
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) is a Na(+)-selective, aldosterone-stimulated ion channel involved in sodium transport homeostasis. ENaC is rate-limiting for Na(+) absorption in the epithelia of osmoregulatory organs of tetrapods. Although the ENaC/degenerin gene family is proposed to be present in metazoans, no orthologues or paralogues for ENaC have been found in the genome databases of teleosts. We studied full-length cDNA cloning and tissue distributions of ENaC?, ? and ? subunits in the Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, which is the closest living relative of tetrapods. Neoceratodus ENaC (nENaC) comprised three subunits: nENaC?, ? and ? proteins. The nENaC?, ? and ? subunits are closely related to amphibian ENaC?, ? and ? subunits, respectively. Three ENaC subunit mRNAs were highly expressed in the gills, kidney and rectum. Amiloride-sensitive sodium current was recorded from Xenopus oocytes injected with the nENaC??? subunit complementary RNAs under a two-electrode voltage clamp. nENaC? immunoreactivity was observed in the apical cell membrane of the gills, kidney and rectum. Thus, nENaC may play a role in regulating sodium transport of the lungfish, which has a renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. This is interesting because there may have been an ENaC sodium absorption system controlled by aldosterone before the conquest of land by vertebrates.
SUBMITTER: Uchiyama M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3497098 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
ACCESS DATA