acr-16 encodes an alpha-7-like homomer-forming subunit of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) superfamily orthologous to human nicotinic cholinergic receptor alpha 7 (CHRNA7; OMIM:118511; possibly associated with schizophrenia and juvenile myoclonic epilepsy); ACR-16 functions as a ligand-gated ion channel that is required for the major fast cholinergic excitatory current at C. elegans neuromuscular junctions; when expressed in Xenopus ooctyes, ACR-16 is active as a homomeric receptor and responds robustly to acetylcholine; an ACR-16::GFP reporter fusion expressed in muscle cells localizes to the tips of muscle arms, specific regions of the muscle cell membrane that form synapses with neuronal processes; acr-16::gfp promoter fusions also reveal expression in a subset of neurons; ACR-16 localization to postsynaptic regions, a key component of activity-dependent synaptic plasticity, is regulated by a Wnt signaling pathway that includes CWN-2, LIN-17, CAM-1, and DSH-1.
Enables acetylcholine-gated monoatomic cation-selective channel activity. Involved in monoatomic ion transmembrane transport. Located in cell projection. Expressed in body wall musculature; linker cell; muscle cell; and neurons. Used to study nicotine dependence. Human ortholog(s) of this gene implicated in several diseases, including Alzheimer's disease; Lewy body dementia; carcinoma (multiple); and inflammatory bowel disease (multiple). Is an ortholog of human CHRFAM7A (CHRNA7 (exons 5-10) and FAM7A (exons A-E) fusion) and CHRNA7 (cholinergic receptor nicotinic alpha 7 subunit).
Map position created from combination of previous interpolated map position (based on known location of sequence) and allele information. Therefore this is not a genetic map position based on recombination frequencies or genetic experiments. This was done on advice of the CGC.