Affiliation:
1. Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology and Biophysics, The Rockefeller University, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA.
Abstract
How calcium gates a potassium channel
Small-conductance Ca
2+
-activated K
+
(SK) channels are expressed throughout the nervous system and affect both the intrinsic excitability of neurons and synaptic transmission. An increase in the concentration of intracellular calcium opens the channels to conduct potassium across the cell membrane. Lee and MacKinnon report cryo–electron microscopy structures of human SK4-calmodulin channel complexes. Activation occurs when calcium binds to calmodulin, a protein with two lobes, known as C and N, separated by a flexible region. Each monomer in the channel tetramer binds constitutively to the C-lobe of calmodulin. The N-lobe of calmodulin is reasonably unconstrained until it binds calcium. With calcium bound, it then binds to the channel and induces conformational changes that open the pore.
Science
, this issue p.
508
Funder
National Institutes of Health
Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Cited by
144 articles.
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