Disruption of the K+ Channel β-Subunit KCNE3 Reveals an Important Role in Intestinal and Tracheal Cl− Transport*

The KCNE3 β-subunit constitutively opens outwardly rectifying KCNQ1 (Kv7.1) K+ channels by abolishing their voltage-dependent gating. The resulting KCNQ1/KCNE3 heteromers display enhanced sensitivity to K+ channel inhibitors like chromanol 293B. KCNE3 was also suggested to modify biophysical properties of several other K+ channels, and a mutation in KCNE3 was proposed to underlie forms of human periodic paralysis. To investigate physiological roles of KCNE3, we now disrupted its gene in mice. kcne3−/− mice were viable and fertile and displayed neither periodic paralysis nor other obvious skeletal muscle abnormalities. KCNQ1/KCNE3 heteromers are present in basolateral membranes of intestinal and tracheal epithelial cells where they might facilitate transepithelial Cl− secretion through basolateral recycling of K+ ions and by increasing the electrochemical driving force for apical Cl− exit. Indeed, cAMP-stimulated electrogenic Cl− secretion across tracheal and intestinal epithelia was drastically reduced in kcne3−/− mice. Because the abundance and subcellular localization of KCNQ1 was unchanged in kcne3−/− mice, the modification of biophysical properties of KCNQ1 by KCNE3 is essential for its role in intestinal and tracheal transport. Further, these results suggest KCNE3 as a potential modifier gene in cystic fibrosis.