Abstract
Human homologues of 36 Caenorhabditis elegans potassium channels were identified by expressed sequence tag (EST) database searching. This approach was combined with radiation hybrid mapping to localize new potassium channel genes in the human genome. In addition, several ESTs whose location was already known were also identified as cDNAs encoding additional potassium channels. The identification and mapping of all these genes will make them useful tools for mutation detection in neurological as well as other human diseases.