1.A.1.13.2
2 TMS ( P-loop) Ca²⁺-gated K⁺ channel, MthK (see Jiang et al., 2002 for the crystal structure, and Parfenova et al., 2006 for mutations affecting open probability). For the studies of ion permeation and Ca²⁺ blockage, see Derebe et al., 2011. (structures: 3LDD_A and 2OGU_A.). Voltage-dependent K⁺ channels including MthK which lacks a canonical voltage sensor can undergo a gating process known as C-type inactivation, which involves entry into a nonconducting state through conformational changes near the channel's selectivity filter (Thomson and Rothberg, 2010). C-type inactivation may involve movements of transmembrane voltage sensor domains. In the absence of Ca²⁺, a single structure in a closed state was observed by cryoEM that was highly flexible with large rocking motions of the gating ring and bending of pore-lining helices (Fan et al. 2020). In Ca²⁺-bound conditions, several open-inactivated conformations were present with the different channel conformations being distinguished by rocking of the gating rings with respect to the transmembrane region. In all conformations displaying open channel pores, the N-terminus of one subunit of the channel tetramer sticks into the pore and plugs it. Deletion of this N terminus led to non-inactivating channels with structures of open states without a pore plug, indicating that this N-terminal peptide is responsible for a ball-and-chain inactivation mechanism (Fan et al. 2020). Lipid-protein interactions influence the conformational equilibrium between two states of the channel that differ according to whether a TMS has a kink. Two key residues in the kink region mediate crosstalk between two gates at the selectivity filter and the central cavity, respectively. Opening of one gate eventually leads to closure of the other (Gu and de Groot 2020). Activation of MthK is exquisitely regulated by temperature (Jiang et al. 2020).