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SUR2 and Kir6: The Pore and the Regulator of a K_ATP Channel

ABCC9 encodes SUR2, a regulatory subunit, not the pore. That distinction is exactly why a change in ABCC9 tunes rather than abolishes channel behaviour, and it is the reason a common allele can have a 2.1 Hz effect instead of a disease phenotype.

Questions this Concept answers

Why would a change in a regulatory subunit tune a channel's behaviour rather than abolish its conduction?

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ATP-sensitive potassium channel

The page describes the K_ATP channel as an octamer of four Kir6.1 or Kir6.2 subunits, which have two transmembrane spans and build the conducting pore, plus four sulfonylurea receptor subunits (SUR1 …

SUR2 and Kir6: The Pore and the Regulator of a KATP Channel

Questions this Concept answers

ATP-sensitive potassium channel

SUR2 and Kir6: The Pore and the Regulator of a K_ATP Channel