Kanda Vikram A, Abbott Geoffrey W
Department of Biology, Manhattan College Riverdale, New York, NY, USA.
Front Physiol. 2012 Jun 28;3:231. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2012.00231. eCollection 2012.
Voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channels shape the action potentials of excitable cells and regulate membrane potential and ion homeostasis in excitable and non-excitable cells. With 40 known members in the human genome and a variety of homomeric and heteromeric pore-forming α subunit interactions, post-translational modifications, cellular locations, and expression patterns, the functional repertoire of the Kv α subunit family is monumental. This versatility is amplified by a host of interacting proteins, including the single membrane-spanning KCNE ancillary subunits. Here, examining both the secretory and the endocytic pathways, we review recent findings illustrating the surprising virtuosity of the KCNE proteins in orchestrating not just the function, but also the composition, diaspora and retrieval of channels formed by their Kv α subunit partners.
电压门控钾（Kv）通道决定可兴奋细胞的动作电位，并调节可兴奋细胞和非可兴奋细胞的膜电位及离子稳态。人类基因组中有40个已知成员，且存在多种同聚体和异聚体孔形成α亚基相互作用、翻译后修饰、细胞定位及表达模式，Kvα亚基家族的功能范围极为广泛。包括单跨膜KCNE辅助亚基在内的许多相互作用蛋白进一步增强了这种多样性。在这里，通过研究分泌途径和内吞途径，我们回顾了最近的研究发现，这些发现表明KCNE蛋白不仅在协调其Kvα亚基伙伴形成的通道的功能，而且在协调通道的组成、分布和回收方面具有惊人的精湛技艺。
