 GluK2 (source code)

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= GluK2
{c}

\b[GluK2] is a subunit of the <kainate receptor> family of <glutamate>-gated <ion channels>. The human subunit is encoded by <GRIK2>; the older name GluR6 occurs in much of the originating experimental literature. A receptor subunit is a component of an assembled channel, not a synonym for every member of the <kainate receptor> family.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2106638[NLM GluK2 Kainate Receptor entry, including historical GluR6 names]{ref}

Deleting the gene for the subunit gave a direct test of its functional contribution. <C. Mulle> and colleagues generated GluR6-deficient mice and found reduced sensitivity to <kainic acid> in hippocampal CA3 neurons. A postsynaptic kainate current evoked by trains of mossy-fibre stimulation was absent in the mutants. The mice were also less susceptible to the tested systemic-kainate seizure challenge.<Altered synaptic physiology and reduced susceptibility to kainate-induced seizures in GluR6-deficient mice by C. Mulle and others>[Nature 392,601–605(1998), abstract: gene disruption, CA3 response, train-evoked current and challenge endpoints.]{ref}

For an experimental comparison, disappearance of a stimulus-evoked current after deleting <GluK2> supports a requirement for that subunit in the tested response. It does not establish that every excitatory current in the same cell is a <GluK2> current: <AMPA receptors> and other receptors can still contribute different components. Nor does gene deletion, by itself, specify the subunit composition of every remaining channel. Combining molecular perturbation with a precisely defined stimulation protocol makes the inference much stronger than interpreting an agonist response alone.

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