unc-1 encodes one of ten C. elegans stomatin-like proteins (SLPs) homologous to human erythrocyte surface protein band 7.2 (EPB72/Stomatin) (OMIM:133090; deficient in stomatocytosis); UNC-1 activity regulates electrical coupling between body wall muscles and is required in neurons for normal locomotion; unc-1 is also required for anesthetic sensitivity; an unc-1 promoter::DsRED2 fusion is expressed in body wall muscle, vulval muscle, anal-depressor muscle, stomatointestinal muscle, nearly all ventral cord motor neurons and the nerve ring; in neurons and body wall muscle, UNC-1 colocalizes with UNC-9, an innexin, at intercellular junctions; unc-24, which also encodes a stomatin homolog, is epistatic to unc-1 and required for UNC-1 localization in the nerve ring.
Enables ion channel regulator activity. Involved in positive regulation of cell communication by electrical coupling and response to xenobiotic stimulus. Located in axon and gap junction. Expressed in several structures, including enteric muscle; ganglia; head neurons; somatic nervous system; and vulval muscle.