PBIO SEMINAR SERIES

Untangling Allosteric Regulation of Calcium-Activated (BK) Potassium Channel Gating.

Wednesday - December 13, 2006
06-07 Seminar Series

Frank Horrigan
Assistant Professor University of Pennsylvania
Speaker's website

Host: Zagotta

Large conductance Ca²⁺-activated (BK) K⁺ channels are important for the function of nerve, muscle and secretory cells. BK channel activity is regulated by a variety of stimuli including membrane voltage, intracellular Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Heme and extracellular metal ions. We seek to understand how sensors that detect these stimuli communicate with the gate that opens and closes the channel pore. We find that sensor/gate communication can be described in terms of allosteric networks that include interactions among sensors as well as interactions between sensors and gate. Surprisingly, many ligands act through pathways that involve the voltage-sensor.