Zinc-activated ion channel (ZAC), is a human protein encoded by the ZACN gene. ZAC forms a cation-permeable ligand-gated ion channel of the "Cys-loop" superfamily. The ZAC gene is present in humans and dogs, but no ortholog is thought to exist in the rat or mouse genomes.
ZAC mRNA is expressed in prostate, thyroid, trachea, lung, brain (adult and fetal), spinal cord, skeletal muscle, heart, placenta, pancreas, liver, kidney and stomach. The endogenous ligand for ZAC is Zn2+, although ZAC has also been found to activate spontaneously. The function of spontaneous ZAC activation is unknown.
Famous quotes containing the word channel:
“How old the world is! I walk between two eternities.... What is my fleeting existence in comparison with that decaying rock, that valley digging its channel ever deeper, that forest that is tottering and those great masses above my head about to fall? I see the marble of tombs crumbling into dust; and yet I don’t want to die!”
—Denis Diderot (1713–1784)