ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2003
A ring of eight conserved negatively charged amino acids doubles the conductance of BK channels and prevents inward rectification.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2003. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 92 papers.
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Who cites it
92 citing papers in PubMed, 144 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pharmacological Relevance of β-, γ-, and LINGO Auxiliary Subunits in BK Channel Modulation.ChemMedChem · 2026Review
- From Flux to Function: Extracting Mechanistic Insights from Ion Channels via I-V and I-μ Analyses.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Disruption of a side portal pathway permits closed-state inactivation by BK β subunit N termini.The Journal of general physiology · 2025Article
- Pathogenic variants in the polycystin pore helix cause distinct forms of channel dysfunction.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Molecular Insights into Single-Chain Lipid Modulation of Acid-Sensing Ion Channel 3.The journal of physical chemistry. B · 2024Article
- Tentonin 3 is a pore-forming subunit of a slow inactivation mechanosensitive channel.Cell reports · 2024Article
- BK Channelopathies andAnnual review of physiology · 2024Review
- Article
- The cyclic lipopeptide micafungin induces rupture of isolated mitochondria by reprograming the mitochondrial inner membrane anion channel.Mitochondrion · 2023Article
- BK channels of five different subunit combinations underlie the de novo KCNMA1 G375R channelopathy.The Journal of general physiology · 2023Article
- Sweetening K-channels: what sugar taught us about permeation and gating.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2023Review
- Electrophysiological characterization of the striatal cholinergic interneurons inDystonia (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Binding of the erlin1/2 complex to the third intralumenal loop of IPThe Journal of biological chemistry · 2022Article
- Calcium-Activated KHandbook of experimental pharmacology · 2021Article
- Article
- Atomistic basis of opening and conduction in mammalian inward rectifier potassium (Kir2.2) channels.The Journal of general physiology · 2020Article
- Molecular Structure of the Hair Cell Mechanoelectrical Transduction Complex.Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine · 2019Review
- Article
- Deletion of cytosolic gating ring decreases gate and voltage sensor coupling in BK channels.The Journal of general physiology · 2017Article
- Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes: Mimics of Biological Ion Channels.Nano letters · 2017Article
32 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Large-conductance Ca2+-voltage-activated K+ channels (BK channels) control many key physiological processes, such as neurotransmitter release and muscle contraction. A signature feature of BK channels is that they have the largest single channel conductance of all K+ channels. Here we examine the mechanism of this large conductance. Comparison of the sequence of BK channels to lower-conductance K+ channels and to a crystallized bacterial K+ channel (MthK) revealed that BK channels have a ring of eight negatively charged glutamate residues at the entrance to the intracellular vestibule. This ring of charge, which is absent in lower-conductance K+ channels, is shown to double the conductance of BK channels for outward currents by increasing the concentration of K+ in the vestibule through an electrostatic mechanism. Removing the ring of charge converts BK channels to inwardly rectifying channels. Thus, a simple electrostatic mechanism contributes to the large conductance of BK channels.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.