A voltage-clamp analysis of gene-dosage effects of the Shaker locus on larval muscle potassium currents in Drosophila.

Mutations of the Shaker (Sh) locus of Drosophila reduce, eliminate, or otherwise alter a transient potassium current, IA, in muscle. Recent molecular studies indicate that the Sh locus produces several proteins by alternative splicing, but the relationships of the variety of Sh gene products to IA channels in the various excitable membranes still remain to be determined. In Drosophila, many enzymes have been shown to exhibit gene-dosage effects; their amounts vary in direct proportion to the number of structural genes present. We describe a physiological isolation of IA in larval muscle which allowed precise quantification of gene-dosage effects on IA in Sh heterozygotes and aneuploids. We found that doubling the number of Sh genes in aneuploids increased IA to twice that of normal, consistent with the notion that the Sh locus encodes the entire IA channel in larval muscle. We further examined heterozygous combinations of different Sh mutations for evidence of interactions among Sh gene products within the IA channel, which may yield clues to the possible subunit composition of the channel. Combinations among 5 Sh mutations plus their normal counterpart followed a simple gene-dosage effect; in each case the resulting IA was about the average of the homozygous currents, compatible with the notion of additive contributions from 2 independent populations of IA channels. Two additional Sh mutations caused pronounced departures from the simple dosage effect; the amplitude of IA in heterozygotes was significantly smaller than that expected from gene dosage, a strong dominant effect attributable to interactions among protein subunits. These contrasting observations may be accounted for by certain hetero- or homo-multimeric arrangements of Sh products in the IA channel.