Amino acid substitution within the S2 and S4 transmembrane segments in Shaker potassium channel modulates channel gating
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Updated: Jul 5, 2026

Mutagenesis and Functional Analysis of Ion Channels Heterologously Expressed in Mammalian Cells
Published on: October 1, 2010
1Department of Life Science, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, Kyun-Buk, 790-784, Korea. mhwang@postech.ac.kr
Abstract:
To investigate of the gating properties in the voltage-activated potassium channel, we have mutated a variety of S2 and S4 residues in the Shaker potassium protein. Results showed that the R365C and R368C, but not the E283C, R362C, R365S, R368S or the ShB-IR, were sensitive to micromolar concentrations of Cd(2+) ions. This indicates that R365 and R368 play a crucial role in the channel gating due to a conformational modulation of the channel structure. Doubly mutated channels of the E283C/R365E and E283C/R368E caused a transient increase in current amplitude, which reached a peak within a few seconds and then decreased toward initial levels, despite the continual presence of Cd(2+). Taken together, our results suggest that E283, R365, and R368 form a network of strong, local, and electrostatic interactions that relate closely to the mechanism of the channel gating.
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