Potassium channels: watching a voltage-sensor tilt and twist.
The fourth transmembrane helix (S4) is the primary voltage-sensor of voltage-gated ion channels. Recent studies have used fluorescence resonance energy transfer as a spectroscopic ruler to determine the nature and magnitude of the voltage-induced movement of S4 that leads to channel opening.
Sansom
M S
MS
Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, Department of Biochemistry, The University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QU, UK. mark@biop.ox.ac.uk.
D004735:Energy Transfer; D005453:Fluorescence; D015640:Ion Channel Gating; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008954:Models, Biological; D008958:Models, Molecular; D015221:Potassium Channels / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D011487:Protein Conformation
D015221:Potassium Channels