Molecular cloning, functional expression and chromosomal localization of a human homolog of the cyclic nucleotide‐gated ion channel of retinal cone photoreceptors

Abstract

We have cloned from human retina a cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) ion channel that is distinct from the one found in rod photoreceptors. This channel protein is highly homologous to the CNG channel that recently has been cloned from bovine testis and kidney and has been shown to be present in retinal cone photoreceptors. When expressed in human embryonic kidney cells, the protein forms functional ion channels with properties broadly similar to those described for the cloned bovine channel. The gene for this channel resides on chromosome 2.