Thrilling moment of an inhibitory channel.
June 28th, 2008 | by admin |Thrilling moment of an inhibitory channel.
Long thought to be potassium channels with calming influence quietly working away in the background, in this issue of Neuron, Thomas et al. demonstrate that K(2P)2.1 (TREK-1) channels have two endogenous isoforms due to a mechanism called alternative translation initiation (ATI). Hence, they can actually be excitable.
Yang SB, Jan LY.
Department of Physiology and Biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.