Evaluation of candidate loci culminated in the identification of a heterozygous missense mutation (R67W) in KCNJ2, the gene encoding the inward-rectifying potassium current, Kir2.1, in 41 members of a kindred in which ventricular arrhythmias (13 of 16 female members [81%]) and periodic paralysis (10 of 25 male members [40%]) segregated as autosomal dominant traits with sex-specific variable expressivity.