Neuronal specificity of subtype SQSC1 of squid putative sodium channel

The distribution of SQSC1 mRNA in tissues of squid Loligo bleekeri was studied by the blot hybridization method. The complete cDNA for the coding region of SQSC1, the invertebrate putative sodium channel, was prepared from squid optic lobe (Sato and Matsumoto, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 186, 61-68, 1992). Transcriptional products of the SQSC1 gene were found to consist of two main different lengths (12 and 9 kb). The transcriptional products were detected in all the nervous tissues examined: optic lobes, cerebral ganglia and giant stellate ganglia. However, it was not detected in the muscle, suggesting the SQSC1 gene is specific for sodium channels of squid nerve cells. SQSC1 appears more widely distributed in the nervous system than GFLN1 which they reported as expressed specifically in stellate ganglion of the squid (Rosenthal and Gilly, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90, 10026-10030, 1993).