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XB-ART-56193
Science 2019 Feb 22;3636429:875-880. doi: 10.1126/science.aav0569.
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A pharmacological master key mechanism that unlocks the selectivity filter gate in K+ channels.

Schewe M , Sun H , Mert Ü , Mackenzie A , Pike ACW , Schulz F , Constantin C , Vowinkel KS , Conrad LJ , Kiper AK , Gonzalez W , Musinszki M , Tegtmeier M , Pryde DC , Belabed H , Nazare M , de Groot BL , Decher N , Fakler B , Carpenter EP , Tucker SJ , Baukrowitz T .


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Potassium (K+) channels have been evolutionarily tuned for activation by diverse biological stimuli, and pharmacological activation is thought to target these specific gating mechanisms. Here we report a class of negatively charged activators (NCAs) that bypass the specific mechanisms but act as master keys to open K+ channels gated at their selectivity filter (SF), including many two-pore domain K+ (K2P) channels, voltage-gated hERG (human ether-à-go-go-related gene) channels and calcium (Ca2+)-activated big-conductance potassium (BK)-type channels. Functional analysis, x-ray crystallography, and molecular dynamics simulations revealed that the NCAs bind to similar sites below the SF, increase pore and SF K+ occupancy, and open the filter gate. These results uncover an unrecognized polypharmacology among K+ channel activators and highlight a filter gating machinery that is conserved across different families of K+ channels with implications for rational drug design.

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Species referenced: Xenopus
Genes referenced: kcnh2

References [+] :
Bagriantsev, Multiple modalities converge on a common gate to control K2P channel function. 2011, Pubmed