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Characterization Of The Drosophila Slowpoke Binding Protein (Slob) Promoter, Amanda L. Sheldon, Lauren Manderfield, Irwin B. Levitan

Farber Institute for Neuroscience Faculty Papers

Drosophila SLOWPOKE (SLO) is a voltage and calcium dependent, large conductance potassium channel important for action potential repolarization, neuronal excitability, neurotransmitter release, and hormone secretion. SLO binding protein (SLOB) binds to and modulates SLO activity. We have shown previously that modulation of SLO by SLOB has profound effects on SLO channel currents, synaptic transmisison, and metabolism. Multiple isoforms of SLOB exist and are encoded by multiple transcripts; the isoforms are named based on their predicted protein molecular weights, in kilodaltons. In the Drosophila brain, SLOB57/51 proteins are expressed especially prominently in insulin producing neurons of the pars intercerebralis, while SLOB71/65 …