Unzipping ion channels.
The functions of ion channels can be regulated by their phosphorylation state. Protein kinases and protein phosphatases tightly control the activity of channels, thereby regulating the flow of ions across cell membranes. Channel proteins and kinases or phosphatases can associate directly or through intermediate adaptor proteins. An interaction domain termed the leucine zipper (LZ), once thought to be unique to some families of transcription factors, has been identified in channel proteins and their cognate binding proteins. MacFarlane and Levitan discuss what roles LZ-containing proteins might have in controlling channel function.
MacFarlane
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The authors are at the Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. E-mail: levitani@mail.med.upenn.edu
Levitan
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D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000502:physiology*; D016350:Leucine Zippers / Q000502:physiology*; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases / Q000502:physiology; D010770:Phosphotransferases / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology
D007473:Ion Channels; D010770:Phosphotransferases; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases