Potassium Channel Tetramerisation Domain Containing Protein 12 (KCTD12)

Pfet1 contains an N-terminal voltage-gated potassium channel tetramerization (T1) domain and 4 weakly hydrophobic regions, but no transmembrane domain. The ORFs of mouse and human PFET1 are 70% GC rich. Northern blot analysis of human fetal tissues detected a 6.0-kb transcript expressed strongly in cochlea and brain, moderately in skeletal muscle, lung, ovary, and eye, and at lower levels in thymus, tongue, heart, and adrenal gland. In contrast, expression of the 6.0-kb transcript was barely detectable in adult human tissues, including spinal cord, cerebrum, cerebellum, skeletal muscle, lung, lymph node, liver, heart, and kidney. Pfet1 protein was expressed in various cochlear cell classes, notably type I fibrocytes of the spiral ligament, as well as in type I vestibular hair cells.