Potassium delayed rectifier channel knowledge page

About

Landing page for the delayed rectifier potassium channels, of rapid (Kr), slow (Ks) and ultra-rapid (Kur) variants.

Other name for these proteins: Kv, KCNx (x denotes letter from A to H), hERG (for Kv11.1 specifically).

These channels are known to transport potassium across the plasma membrane according to the concentration gradient. In cardiac cells, they are integral to the formation and maintenance of the action potential.

Kr, Ks and Kur are proposed to be formed of proteins that are from the same families (see table below). Kv is thought to be tetrameric - made of four units of the pore-forming, alpha subunit protein. This is assembled with one or more units of the regulatory beta subunit. There may be other subunits that control channel gating.

Pictures

Fig. 1. Schematic of delayed rectifier potassium channel action (purple channel), transferring potassium ions (purple triangles) from the extracellular fluid into the cell cytosol.

Subfamilies

The following list contains a portion of all 12 subfamilies that fall under the Kv group. This portion pertains to the delayed rectifier current only.

Variants within the human species
Channel name	Alias	x	Subunit	Binds	Current	Gene	Structure
KCNAx	Kv1.x	1	alpha			Uniprot KCNA1	SMR KCNA1
		2	alpha		Kr	Uniprot KCNA2	SMR KCNA2
		3	alpha			Uniprot KCNA3	PDB KCNA3
		5	alpha		Kur	Uniprot KCNA5	SMR KCNA5
		6	alpha			Uniprot KCNA6	SMR KCNA6
		7	alpha			Uniprot KCNA7	SMR KCNA7
KCNBx	Kv2.x	1	alpha		Ks	Uniprot KCNB1	PDB KCNB1
		2	alpha			Uniprot KCNB2	SMR KCNB2
KCNCx	Kv3.x	1	alpha			Uniprot KCNC1	PDB KCNC1
		2	alpha			Uniprot KCNC2	SMR KCNC2
		3	alpha			Uniprot KCNC3	SMR KCNC3
		4	alpha			Uniprot KCNC4	PDB KCNC4
KCNGx	Kv6.x	1	alpha		Ks	Uniprot KCNG1	SMR KCNG1
		2	alpha		Ks	Uniprot KCNG2	SMR KCNG2
		3	alpha		Ks	Uniprot KCNG3	SMR KCNG3
		4	alpha		Ks	Uniprot KCNG4	SMR KCNG4
KCNQx	Kv7.x	1	alpha		Ks	Uniprot KCNQ1	PDB KCNQ1
		2	alpha			Uniprot KCNQ2	EMD KCNQ2
		3	alpha			Uniprot KCNQ3	PDB KCNQ3
		4	alpha			Uniprot KCNQ4	PDB KCNQ4
		5	alpha			Uniprot KCNQ5	PDB KCNQ5
KCNSx	Kv9.x	1	alpha		Ks	Uniprot KCNS1	SMR KCNS1
		2	alpha		Ks	Uniprot KCNS2	SMR KCNS2
		3	alpha		Ks	Uniprot KCNS3	SMR KCNS3
KCNHx	Kv10.x	1	alpha			Uniprot KCNH1	PDB KCNH1
	Kv11.1/hERG	2	alpha		Kr	Uniprot KCNH2	PDB KCNH2
KCNEx	NA	1	beta	KCNQ1	Ks	Uniprot KCNE1	PDB KCNE1
	NA	2	beta		Kr	Uniprot KCNE2	PDB KCNE2
	NA	3	beta	KCNB1	Ks	Uniprot KCNE3	PDB KCNE3

Column Binds denotes what other protein the protein here binds to, to be functionally active. If item is blank, any binding activity was not experimentally found. Column Current denotes which delayed rectifier current the protein has been experimentally found to contribute to.

Literature

For further reading
Title	Author
Ultra-rapid delayed rectifier channels: molecular basis and therapeutic implications	Ravens and Wetter
A computational model of induced pluripotent stem-cell derived cardiomyocytes incorporating experimental variability from multiple data sources	Kernik et al.

Existing models

Link to other PMR workspaces or exposures
Title	Author
BG_Kr	S Fong
BG_Ks	S Fong
Cellular consequences of HERG mutations in the long QT syndrome: precursors to sudden cardiac death*^	Clancy and Rudy
Bond graph modelling of the cardiac action potential: Implications for drift and non-unique steady states^	Pan et al.
A Model of the Ventricular Cardiac Action Potential - Depolarisation, Repolarisation and Their Interaction*^	Luo and Rudy

Models denoted by [*] are not in bond graph form. Models denoted by [^] are part of a whole cell model.

Other annotations

Item	Database
Voltage gated potassium channel subunits Kv1-12	Reactome
Protein activity	Gene Ontology
Hierarchy of Kv channels	Interpro