Tyrosine residues from the S4-S5 linker of Kv11.1 channels are critical for slow deactivation.

Slow deactivation of Kv11.1 channels is critical for its function in the heart. The S4-S5 linker, which joins the voltage sensor and pore domains, plays a critical role in this slow deactivation gating. Here, we use NMR spectroscopy to identify the membrane bound surface of the S4S5 linker and show that two highly conserved tyrosine residues within the KCNH subfamily of channels are membrane associated. Site directed mutagenesis and electrophysiological analysis indicates that Tyr542 interacts with both pore domain and voltage sensor residues to stabilize activated conformations of the channel, whereas Tyr545 contributes to the slow kinetics of deactivation by primarily stabilizing the transition state between the activated and closed states. Thus the two tyrosine residues in the Kv11.1 S4S5 linker play critical but distinct roles in the slow deactivation phenotype, which is a hallmark of Kv11.1 channels.