Potassium channel, subfamily U, member 1, also known as KCNU1, is a

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...

encoding the K_Ca5.1

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...

. Although this channel is structurally related to the

calcium-activated potassium channel Calcium-activated potassium channels are potassium channels gated by calcium, or that are structurally or phylogenetically related to calcium gated channels. They were first discovered in 1958 by Gardos who saw that calcium levels inside of a cell ...

s, it cannot be classified as such since it is activated by high

intracellular pH Intracellular pH (pHi) is the measure of the acidity or basicity (i.e., pH) of intracellular fluid. The pHi plays a critical role in membrane transport and other intracellular processes. In an environment with the improper pHi, biological cells ...

and relatively insensitive to changes in calcium concentrations.

References

Celia M. Santi, Alice Butler, Julia Kuhn, Aguan Wei, Lawrence Salkoff. Bovine and mouse SLO3 K+ channels: Evolutionary divergence points to a RCK1 region of critical function. J Biol Chem.284: 21589-98 (2009).

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Further reading