CGC Bibliography Paper 5750
The sodium-activated potassium channel is encoded by a member of the Slo gene family.
Yuan A,
Santi CM,
Wei A,
Wang ZW,
Pollak K,
Nonet M,
Kaczmarek L,
Crowder CM,
Salkoff L
- Medline:
- 12628167
- Citation:
- Neuron 37: 765-773 2003
- Type:
- ARTICLE
- Genes:
- slo-2
- Abstract:
- Na+-activated potassium channels (K-Na) have been identified in cardiomyocytes and neurons where they may provide protection against ischemia. We now report that K-Na is encoded by the rSlo2 gene (also called Slack), the mammalian ortholog of slo-2 in C. elegans. rSlo2, heterologously expressed, shares many properties of native K-Na including activation by intracellular Na+, high conductance, and prominent subconductance states. In addition to activation by Na+, we report that rSLO-2 channels are cooperatively activated by intracellular Cl-, similar to C. elegans SLO-2 channels. Since intracellular Na+ and Cl- both rise in oxygen-deprived cells, coactivation may more effectively trigger the activity of rSLO-2 channels in ischemia. In C. elegans, mutational and physiological analysis revealed that the SLO-2 current is a major component of the delayed rectifier. We demonstrate in C. elegans that slo-2 mutants are hypersensitive to hypoxia, suggesting a conserved role for the slo-2 gene