This page is designed to give a basic understanding of tandem pore potassium (2PK) channels, the newest class of mammalian ion channels. The field represents one of the primary interests of Dr. C. Spencer Yost, M.D., who works in the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care at UCSF.
 
Mammalian 2P K channels have four transmembrane domains and two P domains. The P domains are separated by the second and third transmembrane domains. While all these 2P K channels have a highly homologous core region between M1 and M4, the N- and C-terminal domains are quite diverse.

At least 42 distinct members of the family have been discovered in C. elegans, 11 in Drosophila and 1 in yeast.  The human genome project has identified 14 2P K channel sequences of which 12 have been expressed heterologously and 2 are presently non-functional.
The Yost lab has cloned and studied three of these clones, indicated by the  in the following pages.
The proposed membrane topology of a tandem pore potassium channel.