title: Bacterial ion channels and their eukaryotic homologues.
abstract: Due to the relative ease of obtaining their crystal structures, bacterial ion channels provide a unique opportunity to analyse structure and function of their eukaryotic homologues. This review describes prokaryotic channels whose structures have been determined. These channels are KcsA, a bacterial homologue of eukaryotic potassium channels, MscL, a bacterial mechanosensitive ion channel and ClC0, a prokaryotic homologue of the eukaryotic ClC family of anion-selective channels. General features of their structure and function are described with a special emphasis on the advantages that these channels offer for understanding the properties of their eukaryotic homologues. We present amino-acid sequences of eukaryotic proteins related in their primary sequences to bacterial mechanosensitive channels. The usefulness of bacterial mechanosensitive channels for the studies on general principles of mechanosensation is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Koprowski
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kubalski
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D018118:Chloride Channels / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells; D006801:Humans; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015221:Potassium Channels / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D020836:Protein Structure, Quaternary
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C120501:CLC-0 chloride channel protein, Torpedo californica; D018118:Chloride Channels; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D007473:Ion Channels; C086596:MscL protein, E coli; D015221:Potassium Channels; C107790:prokaryotic potassium channel