Calcium-activated potassium channel beta subunit
| CaKB | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
solution structure of the cytoplasmic n-terminus of the bk beta-subunit kcnmb2 | |||||||||
| Identifiers | |||||||||
| Symbol | CaKB | ||||||||
| Pfam | PF03185 | ||||||||
| InterPro | IPR003930 | ||||||||
| SCOP2 | 1jo6 / SCOPe / SUPFAM | ||||||||
| TCDB | 8.A.14 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
In molecular biology, the calcium-activated potassium channel beta subunit is a family of proteins comprising the beta subunits of calcium-activated potassium channels.
The functional diversity of potassium channels can arise through homo- or hetero-associations of alpha subunits or association with auxiliary cytoplasmic beta subunits. The beta subunit (which is thought to possess 2 transmembrane domains) increases the calcium sensitivity of the BK channel. It does this by enhancing the time spent by the channel in burst-like open states. However, it has little effect on the durations of closed intervals between bursts, or on the numbers of open and closed states entered during gating.