title: Impermeability of the GIRK2 weaver channel to divalent cations.
abstract: A single amino acid mutation (G156S) in the putative pore-forming region of the G protein-sensitive, inwardly rectifying K(+) channel subunit, GIRK2, renders the conductance constitutively active and nonselective for monovalent cations. The mutant channel subunit (GIRK2wv) causes the pleiotropic weaver disease in mice, which is characterized by the selective vulnerability of cerebellar granule cells and Purkinje cells, as well as dopaminergic neurons in the mesencephalon, to cell death. It has been proposed that divalent cation permeability through constitutively active GIRK2wv channels contributes to a rise in internal calcium in the GIRK2wv-expressing neurons, eventually leading to cell death. We carried out comparative studies of recombinant GIRK2wv channels expressed in Xenopus oocytes and COS-7 cells to determine the magnitude and relative permeability of the GIRK2wv conductance to Ca(2+). Data from these studies demonstrate that the properties of the expressed current differ in the two systems and that when recombinant GIRK2wv is expressed in mammalian cells it is impermeable to Ca(2+).
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Pharmacology, and Physiology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: C B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Nelson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019556:COS Cells; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D002413:Cations, Divalent / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D051676:G Protein-Coupled Inwardly-Rectifying Potassium Channels; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008564:Membrane Potentials; D051379:Mice; D008818:Mice, Neurologic Mutants; D009865:Oocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D010539:Permeability; D017354:Point Mutation; D015221:Potassium Channels / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D024661:Potassium Channels, Inwardly Rectifying; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014162:Transfection; D014981:Xenopus
chemical_list: D002413:Cations, Divalent; D051676:G Protein-Coupled Inwardly-Rectifying Potassium Channels; D015221:Potassium Channels; D024661:Potassium Channels, Inwardly Rectifying; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D002118:Calcium