title: Critical assessment of a proposed model of Shaker.
abstract: Detailed three-dimensional structures at atomic resolution are essential to understand how voltage-activated K(+) channels function. The X-ray crystallographic structure of the KvAP channel has offered the first view at atomic resolution of the molecular architecture of a voltage-activated K(+) channel. In the crystal, the voltage sensors are bound by monoclonal Fab fragments, which apparently induce a non-native conformation of the tetrameric channel. Thus, despite this significant advance our knowledge of the native conformation of a Kv channel in a membrane remains incomplete. Numerous results from different experimental approaches provide very specific constraints on the structure of K(+) channels in functional conformations. These results can be used to go further in trying to picture the native conformation of voltage-gated K(+) channels. However, the direct translation of all the available information into three-dimensional models is not straightforward and many questions about the structure of voltage-activated K(+) channels are still unanswered. Our aim in this review is to summarize the most important pieces of information currently available and to provide a critical assessment of the model of Shaker recently proposed by Lainé et al.
authors.affiliation: Rockefeller University, 1280 York Ave, New York, NY 10021, USA.
authors.forename: Muriel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lainé
authors.forename: Diane M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Papazian
authors.forename: Benoît
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Roux
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D008958:Models, Molecular; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D015221:Potassium Channels / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011487:Protein Conformation; D051637:Shaker Superfamily of Potassium Channels
chemical_list: D015221:Potassium Channels; D051637:Shaker Superfamily of Potassium Channels