7nAChR,a7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor,acetylcholine receptor,neuronal nicotinic,alpha-7 subunit,ACHA7,AChR,Acra7,alpha 7 neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor,alpha-7 nicotinic cholinergic receptor subunit,alpha7,cholinergic receptor,neuronal nicotinic,alpha polypeptide 7,cholinergic receptor,nicotinic,alpha 7 (neuronal),cholinergic receptor,nicotinic,alpha 7,cholinergic receptor,nicotinic,alpha polypeptide 7,CHRNA7,CHRNA7-2,NACHRA7,neuronal acetylcholine receptor protein,alpha-7 chain,Neuronal acetylcholine receptor subunit alpha-7,The nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are members of a superfamily of ligand-gated ion channels that mediate fast signal transmission at synapses. The family member CHRNA7, which is located on chromosome 15 in a region associated with several neuropsychiatric disorders, is partially duplicated and forms a hybrid with a novel gene from the family with sequence similarity 7 (FAM7A). Alternative splicing has been observed, and two variants exist, for this hybrid gene. The N-terminally truncated products predicted by the largest open reading frames for each variant would lack the majority of the neurotransmitter-gated ion-channel ligand binding domain but retain the transmembrane region that forms the ion channel. Although current evidence supports transcription of this hybrid gene, translation of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor-like protein-encoding open reading frames has not been confirmed.