An overview of the potassium channel family.
Potassium channels, tetrameric integral membrane proteins that form aqueous pores through which K+ can flow, are found in virtually all organisms; the genomes of humans, Drosophila, and Caenorhabditis elegans contain 30-100 K+ channel genes each. The structure of a bacterial K+ channel, sequence comparisons with other channels and electrophysiological measurements have enabled conclusions about the mechanism of gating and ion flow to be drawn for many other channels.
Miller
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HHMI and Department of Biochemistry, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454, USA. cmiller@brandeis.edu
D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D015640:Ion Channel Gating; D008958:Models, Molecular; D015221:Potassium Channels / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011487:Protein Conformation
D015221:Potassium Channels