A less flexible BK channel opens more easily.
BK potassium channels regulate spike width and firing rate. A BK point mutation in humans enhances channel activity, leading to epilepsy. In this issue of Neuron, Yang and colleagues use this mutation to demonstrate that channel opening is determined by the flexibility of a region that contains a Ca(2+)-binding site.
Kronengold
Jack
J
Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology, New Haven, CT 06520-8066, USA.
Kaczmarek
Leonard K
LK