Sodium channel, voltage-gated, type III, alpha subunit (SCN3A) is a
protein that in humans is encoded by the ''SCN3A''
gene.
Function
Voltage-gated
sodium channels are
transmembrane glycoprotein
Glycoproteins are proteins which contain oligosaccharide chains covalently attached to amino acid side-chains. The carbohydrate is attached to the protein in a cotranslational or posttranslational modification. This process is known as g ...
complexes composed of a large alpha subunit with 24 transmembrane domains and one or more regulatory beta subunits. They are responsible for the generation and propagation of
action potential
An action potential occurs when the membrane potential of a specific cell location rapidly rises and falls. This depolarization then causes adjacent locations to similarly depolarize. Action potentials occur in several types of animal cells, ...
s in neurons and muscle. This gene encodes one member of the sodium channel alpha subunit gene family, and is found in a cluster of five alpha subunit genes on chromosome 2. Multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene.
SCN3A is involved in
gyrification – the folding of the human
cerebral cortex
The cerebral cortex, also known as the cerebral mantle, is the outer layer of neural tissue of the cerebrum of the brain in humans and other mammals. The cerebral cortex mostly consists of the six-layered neocortex, with just 10% consisting o ...
, and affects speech production brain areas.
References
Further reading
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External links
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Sodium channels
{{membrane-protein-stub