Structure, alternative splicing, and expression of the human and mouse KCNIP gene family

Potassium channel-interacting proteins (KCNIPs, also named KChIPs) modulate A-type potassium channels and favor their surface expression. In addition, KCNIPs have been shown to interact with presenilins and also to function as transcriptional repressors. Here we describe the structures and alternative splicing of the human and mouse KCNIP genes, including novel splice variants for KCNIP1, KCNIP3, and KCNIP4, and show the expression of different KCNIP mRNAs in various mouse and human tissues and brain regions by RT-PCR. Furthermore, we describe the expression of KCNIP1, KCNIP2, KCNIP3, and KCNIP4 mRNAs in the adult mouse brain with in situ hybridization and show that all KCNIP mRNAs were expressed in the neurons of the mouse brain with specific patterns for each KCNIP. Our results show that alternatively spliced KCNIP mRNAs are expressed differentially and could contribute to the diversity of functions of the KCNIP proteins.