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(Circulation Research. 2007;101:119.)
© 2007 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

Starring TREK-1

The Next Generation of Vascular K⁺ Channels

Robert M. Bryan, Jr, Biny K. Joseph, Eric Lloyd, Nancy J. Rusch

From the Department of Anesthesiology (R.M.B.Jr., E.L.), Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology (B.K.J., N.J.R.), University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock.

Correspondence to Nancy J. Rusch, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, 4301 W. Markham Street, #611, Little Rock, AR 72205-7199. E-mail nrusch@uams.edu

See related article, pages 176–184

Key Words: TREK-1 • potassium channel • two pore domain • vascular smooth muscle • cerebral circulation

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

"We are more alike than unlike, my dear Captain. I have pores, humans have pores." Lieutenant Commander Data, Stardate 41209.2

Before 1996, all known mammalian K⁺ channels were classified into only two different structural families according to the number of transmembrane (TM) spanning and pore-forming (P) domains in their subunit. One family is characterized by K⁺ channels composed of two TM domains and one P domain, and includes the inwardly rectifying and ATP-sensitive K⁺ channels. The second family represents K⁺ channels characterized by six or seven TM domains and one P domain, and includes the voltage-gated and Ca²⁺-activated K⁺ channels. To form one functional channel for either of these families, four subunits assemble to establish one K⁺ permeable pore.

In the mid 1990s, researchers took advantage of the fact that the P domain of each K⁺ channel’s pore-forming subunit is highly conserved across species and represents a common structural motif.¹ Genome searches for DNA sequences coding for the P domain revealed a unique K⁺ channel in yeast and Caenorhabditis elegans that contained two P domains within a single subunit polypeptide having eight potential TM domains.² The following year a human K⁺ channel was cloned that also showed the unique feature of two P domains, but displayed four TM domains in a single subunit (Figure 1).³ The channel was given the name TWIK-1 (Tandem of P domains in a Weak Inward rectifying K⁺ channel). Since the cloning of TWIK-1, a total of fifteen genes . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Article:

Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Are Cerebral Vasodilators via the TREK-1 Potassium Channel

Nicolas Blondeau, Olivier Pétrault, Stella Manta, Valérie Giordanengo, Pierre Gounon, Régis Bordet, Michel Lazdunski, and Catherine Heurteaux
Circ. Res. 2007 101: 176-184. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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