A leucine-to-phenylalanine substitution in the acetylcholine receptor ion channel in a family with the slow-channel syndrome.

The slow-channel syndrome is one of several congenital myasthenic syndromes that result from inherited abnormalities of the ion channel of the skeletal muscle acetylcholine receptor (AChR). The ion channel is formed by the second transmembrane domains (M2) of the four AChR subunits. We screened the genomic DNA of one family with the slow-channel syndrome for mutations in the coding sequences for the M2 domains of the four AChR subunits and report the identification of a missense mutation that causes a leucine-to-phenylalanine substitution at position 269 of the epsilon subunit in three affected members of a family with the slow-channel syndrome. We propose that this mutation may be responsible for the disease.