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BKCa-Channel Structure and Function

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Biological Membrane Ion Channels

Part of the book series: Biological And Medical Physics Biomedical Engineering ((BIOMEDICAL))

Abstract

Among ion channels, the large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channel (BKCa channel) is in many ways unique. It has a very large single-channel conductance—ten times that of most vertebrate K+ channels—and yet it maintains strict K+ selectivity. It senses as little as 200 nM Ca2+, but it contains no consensus Ca2+-binding motifs, and it is the only channel to be activated by both intracellular Ca2+ and membrane voltage. In fact, there is a synergy between these stimuli such that the higher the internal Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]), the smaller the depolarization needed to activate the channel. Furthermore, the BKCa channel has its own brand of auxiliary subunits that profoundly affect gating. In this chapter, I will discuss what is understood about the origins of these properties in terms of allosteric models and channel structure. At the outset, however, I should say that there is not yet a crystal structure of the BKCa channel or any of its components, so much of the current thinking about BKCa-channel structure relies on analogy to other channels.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience New England Medical Center, MCRI, Tufts University School of Medicine, 750 Washington Street, 7868, Boston, MA, 02111

    Daniel H. Cox

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  1. Daniel H. Cox
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Res. School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

    Shin-Ho Chung

  2. Weill Medical College Dept. Physiology, Cornell University, 1300 York Avenue, New York, NY, 10021, USA

    Olaf S. Andersen

  3. Dept. of Elect. & Comp. Engi., University of British Columbia, MacLeod Bulding, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Vikram Krishnamurthy

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© 2007 Springer

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Cox, D.H. (2007). BKCa-Channel Structure and Function. In: Chung, SH., Andersen, O.S., Krishnamurthy, V. (eds) Biological Membrane Ion Channels. Biological And Medical Physics Biomedical Engineering. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-68919-2_5

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