Purinergic Receptor P2X, Ligand Gated Ion Channel 6 (P2RX6)

P2X purinoceptor 6 belongs to the family of P2X receptors, which are ATP-gated ion channels and mediate rapid and selective permeability to cations. This gene is predominantly expressed in skeletal muscle, and regulated by p53. The encoded protein is associated with VE-cadherin at the adherens junctions of human umbilical vein endothelial cells.The deduced 431-amino acid protein has features of a P2X receptor, including 2 transmembrane domains, a segment resembling the H5 region of voltage-gated potassium channels, 3 N-glycosylation sites, and 11 conserved cysteine residues. P2RXL1 shares 80% amino acid identity with rat P2rxl1. Northern blot analysis of several tissues detected high expression of a 3.6-kb P2RXL1 transcript only in skeletal muscle.