Welling Paul A, Ho Kevin
Dept. of Physiology, Univ. of Maryland School of Medicine, 655 W. Baltimore St., Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2009 Oct;297(4):F849-63. doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00181.2009. Epub 2009 May 20.
The discovery of the renal outer medullary K+ channel (ROMK, K(ir)1.1), the founding member of the inward-rectifying K+ channel (K(ir)) family, by Ho and Hebert in 1993 revolutionized our understanding of potassium channel biology and renal potassium handling. Because of the central role that ROMK plays in the regulation of salt and potassium homeostasis, considerable efforts have been invested in understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms. Here we provide a comprehensive guide to ROMK, spanning from the physiology in the kidney to the organization and regulation by intracellular factors to the structural basis of its function at the atomic level.
1993年，何和赫伯特发现了肾外髓质钾通道（ROMK，K(ir)1.1），它是内向整流钾通道（K(ir)）家族的首个成员，这一发现彻底改变了我们对钾通道生物学及肾脏钾处理的理解。由于ROMK在盐和钾稳态调节中发挥着核心作用，人们投入了大量精力来理解其潜在的分子机制。在此，我们提供了一份关于ROMK的全面指南，内容涵盖从肾脏中的生理功能，到细胞内因子的组织和调节，再到其功能在原子水平上的结构基础。
