We were delighted to hear, before publication on 4 February, that Canessa et al. had identified a gene whose product, arEnaC conveys amiloride sensitivity on Xenopus oocytes and exhibits extensive similarity to two Caenorhabditis elegans genes,
deg-1 and
emc-4, that can mutate to produce neuronal degeneration. We have called the products of these C. elegans genes degenerins. Here we would like to point out that the similarity extends from our previously published sequences, demonstrating that the mammalian and C. elegans genes are members of the same gene family.