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Calcium‐binding proteins dubbed KChIPs favour surface expression and modulate inactivation gating of neuronal and cardiac A‐type Kv4 channels. To investigate their mechanism of action, Kv4.1 or Kv4.3 were expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes, either alone or together with KChIP1, and the K+ currents were recorded using the whole‐oocyte voltage‐clamp and patch‐clamp methods. KChIP1 similarly remodels gating of both channels. At positive voltages, KChIP1 slows the early phase of the development of macroscopic inactivation. By contrast, the late phase is accelerated, which allows complete inactivation in < 500 ms. Thus, superimposed traces from control and KChIP1‐remodelled currents crossover. KChIP1 also accelerates closed‐state inactivation and recovery from inactivation (3‐ to 5‐fold change). The latter effect is dominating and, consequently, the prepulse inactivation curves exhibit depolarizing shifts (ΔV= 4–12 mV). More favourable closed‐state inactivation may also contribute to the overall faster inactivation at positive voltages because Kv4 channels significantly inactivate from the preopen closed state. KChIP1 favours this pathway further by accelerating channel closing. The peak G‐V curves are modestly leftward shifted in the presence of KChIP1, but the apparent ‘threshold’ voltage of current activation remains unaltered. Single Kv4.1 channels exhibited multiple conductance levels that ranged between 1.8 and 5.6 pS in the absence of KChIP1 and between 1.9 and 5.3 pS in its presence. Thus, changes in unitary conductance do not contribute to current upregulation by KChIP1. An allosteric kinetic model explains the kinetic changes by assuming that KChIP1 mainly impairs open‐state inactivation, favours channel closing and lowers the energy barrier of closed‐state inactivation.

The Drosophila Shaker gene on the X chromosome has three sister genes, Shal, Shab, and Shaw, which map to the second and third chromosomes. This extended gene family encodes voltage-gated potassium channels with widely varying kinetics (rate of macroscopic current activation and inactivation) and voltage sensitivity of steady-state inactivation. The differences in the currents of the various gene products are greater than the differences produced by alternative splicing of the Shaker gene. In Drosophila, the transient (A current) subtype of the potassium channel (Shaker and Shal) and the delayed-rectifier subtype (Shab and Shaw) are encoded by homologous genes, and there is more than one gene for each subtype of channel. Homologs of Shaker, Shal, Shab, and Shaw are present in mammals; each Drosophila potassium-channel gene may be represented as a multigene subfamily in mammals.

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We have examined the molecular mechanism of rapid inactivation gating in a mouse Shal K+ channel (mKv4.1). The results showed that inactivation of these channels follows a complex time course that is well approximated by the sum of three exponential terms. Truncation of an amphipathic region at the N-terminus (residues 2-71) abolished the rapid phase of inactivation (r = 16 ms) and altered voltage-dependent gating. Surprisingly, these effects could be mimicked by deletions affecting the hydrophilic C-terminus. The sum of two exponential terms was sufficient to describe the inactivation of deletion mutants. In fact, the time constants corresponded closely to those of the intermediate and slow phases of inactivation observed with wild-type channels. Further analysis revealed that several basic amino acids at the N-terminus do not influence inactivation, but a positively charged domain at the C-terminus (amino acids 420-550) is necessary to support rapid inactivation. Thus, the amphipathic N-terminus and the hydrophilic C-terminus of mKv4.1 are essential determinants of inactivation gating and may interact with each other to maintain the N-terminal inactivation gate near the inner mouth of the channel. Furthermore, this inactivation gate may not behave like a simple open-channel blocker because channel blockade by internal tetraethylammonium was not associated with slower current decay and an elevated external K+ concentration retarded recovery from inactivation.

Kv4 channels mediate most of the somatodendritic subthreshold operating A-type current (I SA ) in neurons. This current plays essential roles in the regulation of spike timing, repetitive firing, dendritic integration and plasticity. Neuronal Kv4 channels are thought to be ternary complexes of Kv4 pore-forming subunits and two types of accessory proteins, Kv channel interacting proteins (KChIPs) and the dipeptidyl-peptidase-like proteins (DPPLs) DPPX (DPP6) and DPP10. In heterologous cells, ternary Kv4 channels exhibit inactivation that slows down with increasing depolarization. Here, we compared the voltage dependence of the inactivation rate of channels expressed in heterologous mammalian cells by Kv4.2 proteins with that of channels containing Kv4.2 and KChIP1, Kv4.2 and DPPX-S, or Kv4.2, KChIP1 and DPPX-S, and found that the relation between inactivation rate and membrane potential is distinct for these four conditions. Moreover, recordings from native neurons showed that the inactivation kinetics of the I SA in cerebellar granule neurons has voltage dependence that is remarkably similar to that of ternary Kv4 channels containing KChIP1 and DPPX-S proteins in heterologous cells. The fact that this complex and unique behaviour (among A-type K + currents) is observed in both the native current and the current expressed in heterologous cells by the ternary complex containing Kv4, DPPX and KChIP proteins supports the hypothesis that somatically recorded native Kv4 channels in neurons include both types of accessory protein. Furthermore, quantitative global kinetic modelling showed that preferential closed-state inactivation and a weakly voltage-dependent opening step can explain the slowing of the inactivation rate with increasing depolarization. Therefore, it is likely that preferential closed-state inactivation is the physiological mechanism that regulates the activity of both ternary Kv4 channel complexes and native I SA -mediating channels. + channels containing Kv4 pore-forming subunits (Kv4 channels) mediate most of the subthreshold-operating somatodendritic transient or A-type K + current in neurons (also known as I SA ) (Serodio et al. 1994; reviewed in Jerng et al. 2004a). This current is fundamental to neuronal function. It can contribute to spike repolarization and has critical roles in the modulation of the frequency of repetitive firing, signal processing in dendrites and spike timing-dependent plasticity (Connor & Stevens, 1971; This paper has online supplemental material. Hoffman et al. 1997;Schoppa & Westbrook, 1999;Adams et al. 2000;Johnston et al. 2000Johnston et al. , 2003Hille, 2001;Liss et al. 2001;Ramakers & Storm, 2002;Kim et al. 2005Kim et al. , 2007Chen et al. 2006;Hu et al. 2006;Thompson, 2007). These functions rely on the precise voltage dependence and kinetic properties of the underlying K + channels. Studies in heterologous expression systems have shown that Kv4 channels may exist as ternary complexes composed of a pore-forming subunit and at least two distinct auxiliary subunits...

The Kv4 A-type potassium currents contribute to controlling the frequency of slow repetitive firing and back-propagation of action potentials in neurons and shape the action potential in heart. Kv4 currents exhibit rapid activation and inactivation and are specifically modulated by K-channel interacting proteins (KChIPs). Here we report the discovery and functional characterization of a modular K-channel inactivation suppressor (KIS) domain located in the first 34 aa of an additional KChIP (KChIP4a T he Kv4 subfamily of voltage-gated potassium channels underlie somatodendritic A-currents in several types of neurons (1-3) and I to in cardiac myocytes (4-7). Operating at subthreshold membrane potentials, they contribute to controlling the frequency of slow repetitive firing in these excitable cells. The dendritic A-type K ϩ current in hippocampal neurons helps to integrate the back-propagating action potentials and excitatory postsynaptic potentials or inhibitory postsynaptic potentials, providing a rapid electric signal to initiate associative events such as long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LDP) (8-12). In heart, I to impacts on the early phase of repolarization of the action potential (13,14).We recently identified K-channel interacting protein 1-3 (KChIP1-3) that specifically modulate Kv4 currents (15). KChIP1-3 increase total Kv4 current, moderately slow channel inactivation, and considerably accelerate recovery from inactivation (15). They are EF-hand Ca 2ϩ -binding proteins that belong to the recoverin͞neuronal calcium sensor-1 (NCS-1) family. KChIP1 and KChIP 3 are predominantly expressed in neuronal tissues, whereas KChIP2 is predominantly expressed in heart and brain (15).Here we report an unexpected, distinct modulation of Kv4 currents by a K-channel inactivation suppressor (KIS) domain present in an additional KChIP, KChIP4a. We show that by eliminating fast inactivation in conjunction with changes in other kinetic parameters, the KIS domain effectively converts the fast inactivating A-type current to a slowly inactivating delayed rectifier type of currents. Also, we present evidence that KChIPs with and without the KIS domain modulate Kv4 currents in a combinatorial manner. The KIS domain acts oppositely to the Kv␤1 ball domain (16-19) and the ball-like domains of maxi-K ␤2, ␤3 subunits (20-22). These observations indicate that auxiliary subunits provide diverse mechanisms to control activity of potassium channels. Materials and MethodsElectrophysiology. Unitary potassium currents were recorded from cell-attached patches in the presence of 2 mM KCl in the recording pipette as described (23, 24). Macroscopic potassium currents were recorded by applying the two-electrode voltage clamp method in Xenopus oocytes and the tight-seal whole-cell method in Chinese hamster ovary cells and cerebellar granule neurons essentially as described (25), except noted as follows. To examine the kinetics of the macroscopic rising phase, the currents were evoked from a holding potential of Ϫ100 mV by 3...

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