Submitted on August 29, 2007
Accepted on October 3, 2007
Complex roles of PIP2 in the regulation of ion channels and transporters
Chou-Long Huang1*
1 Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern, Dallas, Texas, United States
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: chou-long.huang{at}utsouthwestern.edu.
The regulation of ion channels and transporters by phosphoinositides has received much attention over the past 10 years. There are multiple potential mechanisms for regulation of ion channels and transporters by PIP2, including a direct binding of PIP2 to the target proteins, alterations of membrane insertion and retrieval. Added to the complexities of multiple potential mechanisms is how do cells use PIP2 to regulate so many different processes. Here, I briefly review several past and recent studies to illustrate the complexities and raise outstanding questions for future studies.
