KCNE1 and KCNE3: The yin and yang of voltage-gated K(+) channel regulation.

ABSTRACT: The human KCNE gene family comprises five genes encoding single transmembrane-spanning ion channel regulatory subunits. The primary function of KCNE subunits appears to be regulation of voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channels, and the best-understood KCNE complexes are with the KCNQ1 Kv α subunit. Here, we review the often opposite effects of KCNE1 and KCNE3 on Kv channel biology, with an emphasis on regulation of KCNQ1. Slow-activating IKs channel complexes formed by KCNQ1 and KCNE1 are essential for human ventricular myocyte repolarization, while constitutively active KCNQ1-KCNE3 channels are important in the intestine. Inherited sequence variants in human KCNE1 and KCNE3 cause cardiac arrhythmias but by different mechanisms, and each is important for hearing in unique ways. Because of the

SUBMITTER: Abbott GW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4917010 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature