K⁺ Release Assay and K⁺ Measurement in Oocyte Assay

The Xenopus oocyte is a powerful system for the exogenous expression and functional characterization of plant membrane transport proteins. Until now, a number of potassium transporters and channels have been identified in oocytes expression system by the two-electrode voltage clamp technology. It is difficult to characterize K⁺/H⁺ anti-transporters, especially, electroneutral transporter. The K⁺ efflux assay system enables easy, fast, large-scale measurement of the transporters activity without two-electrode voltage clamp technology. This protocol describes a technique to measure the efflux activity of potassium transporter in oocytes expressing system.