TY - JOUR
T1 - BK channel activation
T2 - Structural and functional insights
AU - Lee, Urvi S.
AU - Cui, Jianmin
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Dr. Huanghe Yang for help in creating figures and Di Wu, Junqiu Yang and Mark Zaydman for their insightful comments. We thank Dr. Roderick MacKinnon for providing coordinates for the BK channel gating ring structure in Figure 1 c. This research was supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01-HL70393 and R01-NS060706 to J.C. J.C. is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering on the Spencer T. Olin Endowment.
PY - 2010/9
Y1 - 2010/9
N2 - The voltage- and Ca 2+-activated K + (BK) channels are involved in the regulation of neurotransmitter release and neuronal excitability. Structurally, BK channels are homologous to voltage- and ligand-gated K + channels, having a voltage sensor and pore as the membrane-spanning domain and a cytosolic domain containing metal binding sites. Recently published electron cryomicroscopy (cryo-EM) and X-ray crystallographic structures of the BK channel provided the first glimpse into the assembly of these domains, corroborating the close interactions among these domains during channel gating that have been suggested by functional studies. This review discusses these latest findings and an emerging new understanding about BK channel gating and implications for diseases such as epilepsy, in which mutations in BK channel genes have been associated.
AB - The voltage- and Ca 2+-activated K + (BK) channels are involved in the regulation of neurotransmitter release and neuronal excitability. Structurally, BK channels are homologous to voltage- and ligand-gated K + channels, having a voltage sensor and pore as the membrane-spanning domain and a cytosolic domain containing metal binding sites. Recently published electron cryomicroscopy (cryo-EM) and X-ray crystallographic structures of the BK channel provided the first glimpse into the assembly of these domains, corroborating the close interactions among these domains during channel gating that have been suggested by functional studies. This review discusses these latest findings and an emerging new understanding about BK channel gating and implications for diseases such as epilepsy, in which mutations in BK channel genes have been associated.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77956012236&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.tins.2010.06.004
DO - 10.1016/j.tins.2010.06.004
M3 - Review article
C2 - 20663573
AN - SCOPUS:77956012236
SN - 0166-2236
VL - 33
SP - 415
EP - 423
JO - Trends in Neurosciences
JF - Trends in Neurosciences
IS - 9
ER -