LRRC26 auxiliary protein allows BK channel activation at resting voltage without calcium

Jiusheng Yan and Richard W. Aldrich ()
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Jiusheng Yan: Section of Neurobiology, Center for Learning and Memory, University of Texas
Richard W. Aldrich: Section of Neurobiology, Center for Learning and Memory, University of Texas

Nature, 2010, vol. 466, issue 7305, 513-516

Abstract: BK channel activation: role for LRRC26 protein BK (or 'big potassium') channels are a type of large-conductance calcium- and voltage-activated potassium channel that is important for the physiology of many different cell types. These channels have a wide tissue distribution in both excitable and non-excitable cells, but no mechanism has been found to explain their activation in the many types of cells where membrane voltage and intracellular calcium levels remain low. Jiusheng Yan and Richard Aldrich now report the presence of an auxiliary protein in cancer cells that greatly alters the channel's properties so that it can be activated under these resting conditions. BK channels are activated at negative voltages without rises in intracellular calcium-ion concentrations in the presence of the protein leucine-rich repeat (LLR)-containing protein 26 (LRRC26). This work provides a mechanism of resting BK channel activation in non-excitable cells, and may have an impact on the roles of potassium channels in cancer cell proliferation.

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1038/nature09162

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