PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - MacFarlane, Stacey Nee
AU  - Levitan, Irwin B.
TI  - Unzipping Ion Channels
AID  - 10.1126/stke.2001.98.pe1
DP  - 2001 Sep 04
TA  - Science's STKE
PG  - pe1--pe1
VI  - 2001
IP  - 98
4099  - http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/2001/98/pe1.short
4100  - http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/2001/98/pe1.full
SO  - Sci. STKE2001 Sep 04; 2001
AB  - The functions of ion channels can be regulated by their phosphorylation state. Protein kinases and protein phosphatases tightly control the activity of channels, thereby regulating the flow of ions across cell membranes. Channel proteins and kinases or phosphatases can associate directly or through intermediate adaptor proteins. An interaction domain termed the leucine zipper (LZ), once thought to be unique to some families of transcription factors, has been identified in channel proteins and their cognate binding proteins. MacFarlane and Levitan discuss what roles LZ-containing proteins might have in controlling channel function.