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Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Functional Characterization of Endogenously Expressed Human RYR1 Variants
Published on: June 9, 2021
The role of auxiliary dihydropyridine receptor subunits in muscle
Bernhard E Flucher1, Gerald J Obermair, Petronel Tuluc
1Department of Physiology and Medical Physics, Section of Physiology, Innsbruck Medical University, Austria. bernhard.e.flucher@uibk.ac.at
Abstract:
The skeletal muscle dihydropyridine receptor is a slowly-activating calcium channel that functions as the voltage sensor in excitation-contraction coupling. In addition to the pore-forming alpha(1S) subunit it contains the transmembrane alpha(2)delta-1 and gamma(1) subunits and the cytoplasmic beta(1a) subunit. Although the roles of the auxiliary subunits in calcium channel function have been intensively studied in heterologous expression systems, their functions in excitation-contraction coupling has only recently been elucidated in muscle cells of various null-mutant animal models. In this article we will briefly outline the current state of these investigations.
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