期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2002
卷号：99
期号：6
页码：4008-4013
DOI：10.1073/pnas.052692999
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Vitelliform macular dystrophy (VMD/Best disease; MIM*153700) is an early-onset autosomal dominant disorder in which accumulation of lipofuscin-like material within and beneath the retinal pigment epithelium is associated with a progressive loss of central vision. Bestrophin, the protein product of the VMD gene, has four predicted transmembrane domains. There are multiple bestrophin homologues in the human, Drosophila, and Caenorhabditis elegans genomes, but no function has previously been ascribed to these proteins, and they show no detectable homology to other proteins of known function. Using heterologous expression, we show here that human, Drosophila, and C. elegans bestrophins form oligomeric chloride channels, and that human bestrophin is sensitive to intracellular calcium. Each of 15 missense mutations asscociated with VMD greatly reduces or abolishes the membrane current. Four of these mutant bestrophins were coexpressed with the wild type and each dominantly inhibited the wild-type membrane current, consistent with the dominant nature of the disease. These experiments establish the existence of a new chloride channel family and VMD as a channelopathy.
