Dynamic duo: Kir6 and SUR in K <sub>ATP</sub> channel structure and function
Bruce L. Patton, Phillip Zhu, Assmaa ElSheikh, Camden Driggers, Show‐Ling Shyng
Abstract
K ATP channels are ligand-gated potassium channels that couple cellular energetics with membrane potential to regulate cell activity.Each channel is an eight subunit complex comprising four central pore-forming Kir6 inward rectifier potassium channel subunits surrounded by four regulatory subunits known as the sulfonylurea receptor, SUR, which confer homeostatic metabolic control of K ATP gating.SUR is an ATP binding cassette (ABC) protein family homolog that lacks membrane transport activity but is essential for K ATP expression and function.For more than four decades, understanding the structure-function relationship of Kir6 and SUR has remained a central objective of clinical significance.Here, we review progress in correlating the wealth of functional data in the literature with recent K ATP cryoEM structures.