New Structures and Gating of Voltage-Dependent Potassium (Kv) Channels and Their Relatives: A Multi-Domain and Dynamic Question.

ABSTRACT: Voltage-dependent potassium channels (Kv channels) are crucial regulators of cell excitability that participate in a range of physiological and pathophysiological processes. These channels are molecular machines that display a mechanism (known as gating) for opening and closing a gate located in a pore domain (PD). In Kv channels, this mechanism is triggered and controlled by changes in the magnitude of the transmembrane voltage sensed by a voltage-sensing domain (VSD). In this review, we consider several aspects of the VSD⁻PD coupling in Kv channels, and in some relatives, that share a common general structure characterized by a single square-shaped ion conduction pore in the center, surrounded by four VSDs located at the periphery. We compile some recent advances in the knowledge of thei

SUBMITTER: Barros F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6359393 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature