/under
construction/Atomic details of Kir channels structure revealed by X-ray crystallography
Inward rectifier potassium channels (Kir) are structurally and functionally different from voltage-gated (KV) potassium channels. In general, Kir channels consist of homo- or heteromeric complexes of Kir subunits. Kir channels are tetramers of distinct subunits each having two transmembrane domains, relatively small N-terminal and large C-terminal cytoplasmic domains, and a pore-forming structure between.
Analysis and visual presentation of the structures were performed using DeepView Swiss-PdbViewer and PyMol software using 3SPI PDB (Hansen SB, Tao X, MacKinnon R. Structural basis of PIP2 activation of the classical inward rectifier K+ channel Kir2.2. Nature. 2011;477(7365):495-8. PMCID: 3324908)