Modulation of Actin Filament Dynamics by Inward Rectifying of Potassium Channel Kir2.1

Lida Wu, Quanyi Wang, Junzhong Gu, Huiyuan Zhang, Yuchun Gu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Apart from its ion channel properties, the Kir2.1 channel has been found in tumors and cancer cells to facilitate cancer cell motility. It is assumed that Kir2.1 might be associated with cell actin filament dynamics. With the help of structured illumination microscopy (SIM), we show that Kir2.1 overexpression promotes actin filament dynamics, cell invasion, and adhesion. Mutated Kir2.1 channels, with impaired membrane expression, present much weaker actin regulatory effects, which indicates that precise Kir2.1 membrane localization is key to its actin filament remolding effect. It is found that Kir2.1 membrane expression and anchoring are associated with PIP2 affinity, and PIP2 depletion inhibits actin filament dynamics. We also report that membrane-expressed Kir2.1 regulates redistribution and phosphorylation of FLNA (filamin A), which may be the mechanism underlying Kir2.1 and actin filament dynamics. In conclusion, Kir2.1 membrane localization regulates cell actin filaments, and not the ion channel properties. These data indicate that Kir2.1 may have additional cellular functions distinct from the regulation of excitability, which provides new insight into the study of channel proteins.
Original languageEnglish
Article number7479
Pages (from-to)1-14
Number of pages14
JournalInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences
Volume21
Issue number20
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Oct 2020

Bibliographical note

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access
article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution
(CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Keywords

  • Actin filament dynamics
  • Filamin A
  • Kir2.1
  • PIP2

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