Exciting times for PIP2
Ashcroft, F.M.
Science 282(5391): 1059-1060
1998
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 9841452 Document Number: 484170
In this issue, two reports reveal a new role for membrane phospholipids in regulating the activity of the adenosine triphosphate-sensitive potassium channel, or KATP channel. The KATP channel is a membrane protein that acts as a gated opening to control the movement of potassium ions into and out of the cell. Baukrowitz and colleagues and Shyng and Nichols address a long-standing problem: why KATP channel activity is observed in the intact cell at cytoplasmic ATP concentrations that would be enough to inhibit the channel almost entirely in an isolated membrane patch. The researchers show that that the membrane phospholipid phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate has a dramatic effect on the ATP sensitivity of the KATP channel.