This web page was produced as an assignment for Genetics 677, and undergraduate course at UW-Madison.
Gene Homology
The KCNQ1 gene in humans has homologous sequences found in many Using HomoloGene and searching for the KCNQ1 gene I choose to select seven other species that showed homology with the KCNQ1 gene of humans that I could use for further phylogenetics study.
Dog (Canis lupis familiaris)
Name: potassium voltage-gated channel, KQT-like subfamily, member 1
Abbreviation: KCNQ1
Accession Number: NC_006600.3
E-value:
Cow (Bos taurus)
Name: potassium voltage-gated channel, KQT-like subfamily, member 1
Abbreviation: KCNQ1
Accession Number: AC_000186.1
E-value:
Mouse (Mus musculus)
Name: potassium voltage-gated channel, subfamily Q, member 1
Abbreviation: KCNQ1
Accession Number: NC_000073.5
E-value: 0.0
Rat (Rattus norvegicus)
Name: potassium voltage-gated channel, KQT-like subfamily, member 1
Abbreviation: KCNQ1
Accession Number: NC_005100.2
E-value:
Chicken (Gallus gallus)
Name: potassium voltage-gated channel, KQT-like subfamily, member 1
Abbreviation: KCNQ1
Accession Number: NC_006092.3
E-value:
Zebra fish (Danio rerio)
Name: potassium voltage-gated channel, KQT-like subfamily, member 1
Abbreviation: KCNQ1
Accession Number: NC_007118.5
E-value:
Nematode (Caenorhabditis elegans)
Name: potassium channel, KvQLT family
Abbreviation: KQT-3
Accession Number: NC_003280.8
E-value:
Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana)
Name: potassium channel AKT2/3
Abbreviation: KT2/3
Accession Number: NC_003075.7
E-value: 0.002
Dog (Canis lupis familiaris)
Name: potassium voltage-gated channel, KQT-like subfamily, member 1
Abbreviation: KCNQ1
Accession Number: NC_006600.3
E-value:
Cow (Bos taurus)
Name: potassium voltage-gated channel, KQT-like subfamily, member 1
Abbreviation: KCNQ1
Accession Number: AC_000186.1
E-value:
Mouse (Mus musculus)
Name: potassium voltage-gated channel, subfamily Q, member 1
Abbreviation: KCNQ1
Accession Number: NC_000073.5
E-value: 0.0
Rat (Rattus norvegicus)
Name: potassium voltage-gated channel, KQT-like subfamily, member 1
Abbreviation: KCNQ1
Accession Number: NC_005100.2
E-value:
Chicken (Gallus gallus)
Name: potassium voltage-gated channel, KQT-like subfamily, member 1
Abbreviation: KCNQ1
Accession Number: NC_006092.3
E-value:
Zebra fish (Danio rerio)
Name: potassium voltage-gated channel, KQT-like subfamily, member 1
Abbreviation: KCNQ1
Accession Number: NC_007118.5
E-value:
Nematode (Caenorhabditis elegans)
Name: potassium channel, KvQLT family
Abbreviation: KQT-3
Accession Number: NC_003280.8
E-value:
Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana)
Name: potassium channel AKT2/3
Abbreviation: KT2/3
Accession Number: NC_003075.7
E-value: 0.002
Alignments of Homologous Genes
The gene sequences for all eight sequences were all over 400,000 nucleotides long, because of this large size aligning the sequences was not possible. As a result no phylogenetic tree could be produced to show the phylogeny of the genes as they diverged throughout history. However phylogenetic trees were able to be produced based off of the protein sequences and can be found in the protein phylogeny page.
Analysis
Many of the homologous genes made a lot of sense to me as many of the organisms in which they are found all have a heart or something resembling a heart. With that it would make sense that the organism would have a gene that would play the same role as KCNQ1 does in us. What surprised me though was that a homolog was found in Arabidopsis, which is a plant. Last time I checked plants do not have hearts which is why I was surprised to see that it had a homologous gene to KCNQ1, but then after thinking about what KCNQ1 actually did it was less of a surprise as KCNQ1 is really just an ion transport channel that happens to be found in the heart but could be used to just channel ions in a plant.