KCNJ3, Official Symbol KCNJ3provided by HGNC Official Full Name potassium inwardly rectifying channel subfamily J member 3provided by HGNC Primary source HGNC:HGNC:6264 See related Ensembl:ENSG00000162989 MIM:601534; AllianceGenome:HGNC:6264 Gene type protein coding RefSeq status REVIEWED Organism Homo sapiens Lineage Eukaryota; Metazoa; Chordata; Craniata; Vertebrata; Euteleostomi; Mammalia; Eutheria; Euarchontoglires; Primates; Haplorrhini; Catarrhini; Hominidae; Homo Also known as KGA; GIRK1; KIR3.1 Summary Potassium channels are present in most mammalian cells, where they participate in a wide range of physiologic responses. The protein encoded by this gene is an integral membrane protein and inward-rectifier type potassium channel. The encoded protein, which has a greater tendency to allow potassium to flow into a cell rather than out of a cell, is controlled by G-proteins and plays an important role in regulating heartbeat. It associates with three other G-protein-activated potassium channels to form a heteromultimeric pore-forming complex that also couples to neurotransmitter receptors in the brain and whereby channel activation can inhibit action potential firing by hyperpolarizing the plasma membrane. These multimeric G-protein-gated inwardly-rectifying potassium (GIRK) channels may play a role in the pathophysiology of epilepsy, addiction, Down's syndrome, ataxia, and Parkinson's disease. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding distinct proteins. [provided by RefSeq, May 2012] Expression Biased expression in brain (RPKM 10.3), heart (RPKM 5.7) and 8 other tissues See more Orthologs mouse all