GENE REFERENCE / HGNC:1397

CACNA1S

calcium voltage-gated channel subunit alpha1 S

protein-coding gene1q32.1Gene information

What does this gene do?

The CACNA1S gene provides instructions for making the main piece (subunit) of a structure called a calcium channel. Channels containing the CACNA1S protein are found in muscles used for movement (skeletal muscles). These skeletal muscle calcium channels play a key role in a process called excitation-contraction coupling, by which electrical signals (excitation) trigger muscle tensing (contraction).

Calcium channels made with the CACNA1S subunit are located in the outer membrane of muscle cells, so they can transmit electrical signals from the cell surface to inside the cell. The channels interact with another type of calcium channel called ryanodine receptor 1 (RYR1) channels (produced from the RYR1 gene). RYR1 channels are located in the membrane of a structure inside the cell that stores calcium ions. Signals transmitted by CACNA1S-containing channels turn on (activate) RYR1 channels, which then release calcium ions inside the cells. The resulting increase in calcium ion concentration within muscle cells stimulates muscles to contract, allowing the body to move.

Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine. Source publication: 2020-08-18. Source review: 2020-03.

ClinGen reviews

ClinGen reviews the evidence linking a particular gene to a condition. Each rating below describes the strength of that link. It does not classify a variant in your DNA file.

Condition	Inheritance	Evidence
malignant hyperthermia, susceptibility to, 5MONDO:0011163 · Evaluated 2023-04-26	Autosomal dominant	ModerateGeneral Gene Curation Expert Panel

ClinVar records

These numbers show what has been submitted to ClinVar. They cannot tell you how likely you are to have a condition.

Submitted alleles: 3,566
Submissions for variants in or overlapping this gene: 8,772
Submissions explicitly reporting this gene: 8,703
Alleles reported pathogenic / likely pathogenic: 139
VariationIDs with uncertain significance: 1,588
VariationIDs with conflicting classifications: 385

The rows count different things: alleles, submissions or VariationIDs. Their categories can overlap, so do not add them together. Pathogenic/likely pathogenic counts exclude structural variants that merely overlap a gene. A dash in the source means “not reported,” not zero.

NCBI produces the gene-summary file each week using counts recorded at the start of the month. The numbers may differ from those on the live ClinVar website. Read the field definitions ↗

View this gene in ClinVar ↗

YOUR DNA FILE

Can your DNA file tell you about CACNA1S?

From a DNA test kit (such as 23andMe, AncestryDNA or MyHeritage). These kits check a fixed list of about 600,000 to 700,000 positions across your whole genome. ClinVar lists 139 alleles in CACNA1S reported as pathogenic or likely pathogenic. A kit checks only some of these positions, and often none of them.

From whole genome sequencing (a VCF file). Sequencing reads most of your genome. Your file lists the places where your DNA differs from the reference genome. Some regions are hard to sequence, including parts of some genes that have near-identical copies elsewhere, and a VCF file does not record which positions were read well.

If a variant is not in your file, that does not mean you don’t have it.

What BioDecode checks

BioDecode compares every variant in your file with ClinVar, on your own computer. For each match, it shows the ClinVar classification, the review status and the condition it was reported for. Your file is not uploaded.

A ClinVar classification applies to one particular variant and the condition it was reported for. It does not tell you about other variants in CACNA1S.

BioDecode cannot fill gaps in your test, diagnose a condition or replace clinical testing.

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