Potassium channels are the most widely distributed type of ion channel found in virtually all organisms. [1] They form potassium-selective pores that span cell membranes. Potassium channels are found in most cell types and control a wide variety of cell functions. [2] [3]
Potassium channels function to conduct potassium ions down their electrochemical gradient, doing so both rapidly (up to the diffusion rate of K+ ions in bulk water) and selectively (excluding, most notably, sodium despite the sub-angstrom difference in ionic radius). [4] Biologically, these channels act to set or reset the resting potential in many cells. In excitable cells, such as neurons, the delayed counterflow of potassium ions shapes the action potential.
By contributing to the regulation of the cardiac action potential duration in cardiac muscle, malfunction of potassium channels may cause life-threatening arrhythmias. Potassium channels may also be involved in maintaining vascular tone.
They also regulate cellular processes such as the secretion of hormones (e.g., insulin release from beta-cells in the pancreas) so their malfunction can lead to diseases (such as diabetes).
Some toxins, such as dendrotoxin, are potent because they block potassium channels. [5]
There are four major classes of potassium channels:
The following table contains a comparison of the major classes of potassium channels with representative examples (for a complete list of channels within each class, see the respective class pages).
For more examples of pharmacological modulators of potassium channels, see potassium channel blocker and potassium channel opener.
Class | Subclasses | Function | Blockers | Activators |
---|---|---|---|---|
Calcium-activated 6T & 1P |
| [ citation needed ]
| ||
Inwardly rectifying 2T & 1P |
|
| ||
|
| |||
|
| |||
| [ citation needed ] | |||
Tandem pore domain 4T & 2P |
|
| [ citation needed ] | |
Voltage-gated 6T & 1P |
|
|
| |
Potassium channels have a tetrameric structure in which four identical protein subunits associate to form a fourfold symmetric (C4) complex arranged around a central ion conducting pore (i.e., a homotetramer). Alternatively four related but not identical protein subunits may associate to form heterotetrameric complexes with pseudo C4 symmetry. All potassium channel subunits have a distinctive pore-loop structure that lines the top of the pore and is responsible for potassium selective permeability.
There are over 80 mammalian genes that encode potassium channel subunits. However potassium channels found in bacteria are amongst the most studied of ion channels, in terms of their molecular structure. Using X-ray crystallography, [55] [56] profound insights have been gained into how potassium ions pass through these channels and why (smaller) sodium ions do not. [57] The 2003 Nobel Prize for Chemistry was awarded to Rod MacKinnon for his pioneering work in this area. [58]
Potassium ion channels remove the hydration shell from the ion when it enters the selectivity filter. The selectivity filter is formed by a five residue sequence, TVGYG, termed the signature sequence, within each of the four subunits. This signature sequence is within a loop between the pore helix and TM2/6, historically termed the P-loop. This signature sequence is highly conserved, with the exception that a valine residue in prokaryotic potassium channels is often substituted with an isoleucine residue in eukaryotic channels. This sequence adopts a unique main chain structure, structurally analogous to a nest protein structural motif. The four sets of electronegative carbonyl oxygen atoms are aligned toward the center of the filter pore and form a square antiprism similar to a water-solvating shell around each potassium binding site. The distance between the carbonyl oxygens and potassium ions in the binding sites of the selectivity filter is the same as between water oxygens in the first hydration shell and a potassium ion in water solution, providing an energetically-favorable route for de-solvation of the ions. Sodium ions, however, are too small to fill the space between the carbonyl oxygen atoms. Thus, it is energetically favorable for sodium ions to remain bound with water molecules in the extracellular space, rather than to pass through the potassium-selective ion pore. [60] This width appears to be maintained by hydrogen bonding and van der Waals forces within a sheet of aromatic amino acid residues surrounding the selectivity filter. [55] [61] The selectivity filter opens towards the extracellular solution, exposing four carbonyl oxygens in a glycine residue (Gly79 in KcsA). The next residue toward the extracellular side of the protein is the negatively charged Asp80 (KcsA). This residue together with the five filter residues form the pore that connects the water-filled cavity in the center of the protein with the extracellular solution. [62]
The mechanism of potassium channel selectivity remains under continued debate. The carbonyl oxygens are strongly electro-negative and cation-attractive. The filter can accommodate potassium ions at 4 sites usually labelled S1 to S4 starting at the extracellular side. In addition, one ion can bind in the cavity at a site called SC or one or more ions at the extracellular side at more or less well-defined sites called S0 or Sext. Several different occupancies of these sites are possible. Since the X-ray structures are averages over many molecules, it is, however, not possible to deduce the actual occupancies directly from such a structure. In general, there is some disadvantage due to electrostatic repulsion to have two neighboring sites occupied by ions. Proposals for the mechanism of selectivity have been made based on molecular dynamics simulations, [63] toy models of ion binding, [64] thermodynamic calculations, [65] topological considerations, [66] [67] and structural differences [68] between selective and non-selective channels.
The mechanism for ion translocation in KcsA has been studied extensively by theoretical calculations and simulation. [62] [69] The prediction of an ion conduction mechanism in which the two doubly occupied states (S1, S3) and (S2, S4) play an essential role has been affirmed by both techniques. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations suggest the two extracellular states, Sext and S0, reflecting ions entering and leaving the filter, also are important actors in ion conduction.
This region neutralizes the environment around the potassium ion so that it is not attracted to any charges. In turn, it speeds up the reaction.
A central pore, 10 Å wide, is located near the center of the transmembrane channel, where the energy barrier is highest for the transversing ion due to the hydrophobity of the channel wall. The water-filled cavity and the polar C-terminus of the pore helices ease the energetic barrier for the ion. Repulsion by preceding multiple potassium ions is thought to aid the throughput of the ions. The presence of the cavity can be understood intuitively as one of the channel's mechanisms for overcoming the dielectric barrier, or repulsion by the low-dielectric membrane, by keeping the K+ ion in a watery, high-dielectric environment.
The flux of ions through the potassium channel pore is regulated by two related processes, termed gating and inactivation. Gating is the opening or closing of the channel in response to stimuli, while inactivation is the rapid cessation of current from an open potassium channel and the suppression of the channel's ability to resume conducting. While both processes serve to regulate channel conductance, each process may be mediated by a number of mechanisms.
Generally, gating is thought to be mediated by additional structural domains which sense stimuli and in turn open the channel pore. These domains include the RCK domains of BK channels, [70] [71] [72] and voltage sensor domains of voltage gated K+ channels. These domains are thought to respond to the stimuli by physically opening the intracellular gate of the pore domain, thereby allowing potassium ions to traverse the membrane. Some channels have multiple regulatory domains or accessory proteins, which can act to modulate the response to stimulus. While the mechanisms continue to be debated, there are known structures of a number of these regulatory domains, including RCK domains of prokaryotic [73] [74] [75] and eukaryotic [70] [71] [72] channels, pH gating domain of KcsA, [76] cyclic nucleotide gating domains, [77] and voltage gated potassium channels. [78] [79]
N-type inactivation is typically the faster inactivation mechanism, and is termed the "ball and chain" model. [80] N-type inactivation involves interaction of the N-terminus of the channel, or an associated protein, which interacts with the pore domain and occludes the ion conduction pathway like a "ball". Alternatively, C-type inactivation is thought to occur within the selectivity filter itself, where structural changes within the filter render it non-conductive. There are a number of structural models of C-type inactivated K+ channel filters, [81] [82] [83] although the precise mechanism remains unclear.
Potassium channel blockers inhibit the flow of potassium ions through the channel. They either compete with potassium binding within the selectivity filter or bind outside the filter to occlude ion conduction. An example of one of these competitors is quaternary ammonium ions, which bind at the extracellular face [84] [85] or central cavity of the channel. [86] For blocking from the central cavity quaternary ammonium ions are also known as open channel blockers, as binding classically requires the prior opening of the cytoplasmic gate. [87]
Barium ions can also block potassium channel currents, [88] [89] by binding with high affinity within the selectivity filter. [90] [91] [92] [93] This tight binding is thought to underlie barium toxicity by inhibiting potassium channel activity in excitable cells.
Medically potassium channel blockers, such as 4-aminopyridine and 3,4-diaminopyridine, have been investigated for the treatment of conditions such as multiple sclerosis. [49] Off target drug effects can lead to drug induced Long QT syndrome, a potentially life-threatening condition. This is most frequently due to action on the hERG potassium channel in the heart. Accordingly, all new drugs are preclinically tested for cardiac safety.
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2019) |
Some types of potassium channels are activated by muscarinic receptors and these are called muscarinic potassium channels (IKACh). These channels are a heterotetramer composed of two GIRK1 and two GIRK4 subunits. [94] [95] Examples are potassium channels in the heart, which, when activated by parasympathetic signals through M2 muscarinic receptors, cause an outward current of potassium, which slows down the heart rate. [96] [97]
Roderick MacKinnon commissioned Birth of an Idea, a 5-foot (1.5 m) tall sculpture based on the KcsA potassium channel. [98] The artwork contains a wire object representing the channel's interior with a blown glass object representing the main cavity of the channel structure.
Ion channels are pore-forming membrane proteins that allow ions to pass through the channel pore. Their functions include establishing a resting membrane potential, shaping action potentials and other electrical signals by gating the flow of ions across the cell membrane, controlling the flow of ions across secretory and epithelial cells, and regulating cell volume. Ion channels are present in the membranes of all cells. Ion channels are one of the two classes of ionophoric proteins, the other being ion transporters.
Voltage-gated ion channels are a class of transmembrane proteins that form ion channels that are activated by changes in the electrical membrane potential near the channel. The membrane potential alters the conformation of the channel proteins, regulating their opening and closing. Cell membranes are generally impermeable to ions, thus they must diffuse through the membrane through transmembrane protein channels. They have a crucial role in excitable cells such as neuronal and muscle tissues, allowing a rapid and co-ordinated depolarization in response to triggering voltage change. Found along the axon and at the synapse, voltage-gated ion channels directionally propagate electrical signals. Voltage-gated ion-channels are usually ion-specific, and channels specific to sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), calcium (Ca2+), and chloride (Cl−) ions have been identified. The opening and closing of the channels are triggered by changing ion concentration, and hence charge gradient, between the sides of the cell membrane.
hERG is a gene that codes for a protein known as Kv11.1, the alpha subunit of a potassium ion channel. This ion channel is best known for its contribution to the electrical activity of the heart: the hERG channel mediates the repolarizing IKr current in the cardiac action potential, which helps coordinate the heart's beating.
Inward-rectifier potassium channels (Kir, IRK) are a specific lipid-gated subset of potassium channels. To date, seven subfamilies have been identified in various mammalian cell types, plants, and bacteria. They are activated by phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2). The malfunction of the channels has been implicated in several diseases. IRK channels possess a pore domain, homologous to that of voltage-gated ion channels, and flanking transmembrane segments (TMSs). They may exist in the membrane as homo- or heterooligomers and each monomer possesses between 2 and 4 TMSs. In terms of function, these proteins transport potassium (K+), with a greater tendency for K+ uptake than K+ export. The process of inward-rectification was discovered by Denis Noble in cardiac muscle cells in 1960s and by Richard Adrian and Alan Hodgkin in 1970 in skeletal muscle cells.
Sodium channels are integral membrane proteins that form ion channels, conducting sodium ions (Na+) through a cell's membrane. They belong to the superfamily of cation channels.
Potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily A member 1 also known as Kv1.1 is a shaker related voltage-gated potassium channel that in humans is encoded by the KCNA1 gene. Isaacs syndrome is a result of an autoimmune reaction against the Kv1.1 ion channel.
Calcium-activated potassium channels are potassium channels gated by calcium, or that are structurally or phylogenetically related to calcium gated channels. They were first discovered in 1958 by Gardos who saw that calcium levels inside of a cell could affect the permeability of potassium through that cell membrane. Then in 1970, Meech was the first to observe that intracellular calcium could trigger potassium currents. In humans they are divided into three subtypes: large conductance or BK channels, which have very high conductance which range from 100 to 300 pS, intermediate conductance or IK channels, with intermediate conductance ranging from 25 to 100 pS, and small conductance or SK channels with small conductances from 2-25 pS.
Voltage-gated potassium channels (VGKCs) are transmembrane channels specific for potassium and sensitive to voltage changes in the cell's membrane potential. During action potentials, they play a crucial role in returning the depolarized cell to a resting state.
The two-pore-domain or tandem pore domain potassium channels are a family of 15 members that form what is known as leak channels which possess Goldman-Hodgkin-Katz (open) rectification. These channels are regulated by several mechanisms including signaling lipids, oxygen tension, pH, mechanical stretch, and G-proteins. Two-pore-domain potassium channels correspond structurally to a inward-rectifier potassium channel α-subunits. Each inward-rectifier potassium channel α-subunit is composed of two transmembrane α-helices, a pore helix and a potassium ion selectivity filter sequence and assembles into a tetramer forming the complete channel. The two-pore domain potassium channels instead are dimers where each subunit is essentially two α-subunits joined together.
Two-pore channels (TPCs) are eukaryotic intracellular voltage-gated and ligand gated cation selective ion channels. There are two known paralogs in the human genome, TPC1s and TPC2s. In humans, TPC1s are sodium selective and TPC2s conduct sodium ions, calcium ions and possibly hydrogen ions. Plant TPC1s are non-selective channels. Expression of TPCs are found in both plant vacuoles and animal acidic organelles. These organelles consist of endosomes and lysosomes. TPCs are formed from two transmembrane non-equivalent tandem Shaker-like, pore-forming subunits, dimerized to form quasi-tetramers. Quasi-tetramers appear very similar to tetramers, but are not quite the same. Some key roles of TPCs include calcium dependent responses in muscle contraction(s), hormone secretion, fertilization, and differentiation. Disorders linked to TPCs include membrane trafficking, Parkinson's disease, Ebola, and fatty liver.
SK channels are a subfamily of calcium-activated potassium channels. They are so called because of their small single channel conductance in the order of 10 pS. SK channels are a type of ion channel allowing potassium cations to cross the cell membrane and are activated (opened) by an increase in the concentration of intracellular calcium through N-type calcium channels. Their activation limits the firing frequency of action potentials and is important for regulating afterhyperpolarization in the neurons of the central nervous system as well as many other types of electrically excitable cells. This is accomplished through the hyperpolarizing leak of positively charged potassium ions along their concentration gradient into the extracellular space. This hyperpolarization causes the membrane potential to become more negative. SK channels are thought to be involved in synaptic plasticity and therefore play important roles in learning and memory.
Light-gated ion channels are a family of ion channels regulated by electromagnetic radiation. Other gating mechanisms for ion channels include voltage-gated ion channels, ligand-gated ion channels, mechanosensitive ion channels, and temperature-gated ion channels. Most light-gated ion channels have been synthesized in the laboratory for study, although two naturally occurring examples, channelrhodopsin and anion-conducting channelrhodopsin, are currently known. Photoreceptor proteins, which act in a similar manner to light-gated ion channels, are generally classified instead as G protein-coupled receptors.
The transmembrane cation channel superfamily was defined in InterPro and Pfam as the family of tetrameric ion channels. These include the sodium, potassium, calcium, ryanodine receptor, HCN, CNG, CatSper, and TRP channels. This large group of ion channels apparently includes families 1.A.1, 1.A.2, 1.A.3, and 1.A.4 of the TCDB transporter classification.
G protein-activated inward rectifier potassium channel 2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the KCNJ6 gene. Mutation in KCNJ6 gene has been proposed to be the cause of Keppen-Lubinsky Syndrome (KPLBS).
The G protein-coupled inwardly rectifying potassium channels (GIRKs) are a family of lipid-gated inward-rectifier potassium ion channels which are activated (opened) by the signaling lipid PIP2 and a signal transduction cascade starting with ligand-stimulated G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). GPCRs in turn release activated G-protein βγ- subunits (Gβγ) from inactive heterotrimeric G protein complexes (Gαβγ). Finally, the Gβγ dimeric protein interacts with GIRK channels to open them so that they become permeable to potassium ions, resulting in hyperpolarization of the cell membrane. G protein-coupled inwardly rectifying potassium channels are a type of G protein-gated ion channels because of this direct interaction of G protein subunits with GIRK channels. The activation likely works by increasing the affinity of the channel for PIP2. In high concentration PIP2 activates the channel absent G-protein, but G-protein does not activate the channel absent PIP2.
Potassium channel blockers are agents which interfere with conduction through potassium channels.
Mechanosensitive channels (MSCs), mechanosensitive ion channels or stretch-gated ion channels are membrane proteins capable of responding to mechanical stress over a wide dynamic range of external mechanical stimuli. They are present in the membranes of organisms from the three domains of life: bacteria, archaea, and eukarya. They are the sensors for a number of systems including the senses of touch, hearing and balance, as well as participating in cardiovascular regulation and osmotic homeostasis (e.g. thirst). The channels vary in selectivity for the permeating ions from nonselective between anions and cations in bacteria, to cation selective allowing passage Ca2+, K+ and Na+ in eukaryotes, and highly selective K+ channels in bacteria and eukaryotes.
Lq2 is a component of the venom of the scorpion Leiurus quinquestriatus. It blocks various potassium channels, among others the inward-rectifier potassium ion channel ROMK1.
Voltage-gated hydrogen channel 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the HVCN1 gene.
KcsA (Kchannel of streptomyces A) is a prokaryotic potassium channel from the soil bacterium Streptomyces lividans that has been studied extensively in ion channel research. The pH activated protein possesses two transmembrane segments and a highly selective pore region, responsible for the gating and shuttling of K+ ions out of the cell. The amino acid sequence found in the selectivity filter of KcsA is highly conserved among both prokaryotic and eukaryotic K+ voltage channels; as a result, research on KcsA has provided important structural and mechanistic insight on the molecular basis for K+ ion selection and conduction. As one of the most studied ion channels to this day, KcsA is a template for research on K+ channel function and its elucidated structure underlies computational modeling of channel dynamics for both prokaryotic and eukaryotic species.