Large-conductance Ca-activated potassium channels (BK channels) are un
iquely sensitive to both membrane potential and intracellular Ca2+. Re
cent work has demonstrated that in the gating of these channels there
are voltage-sensitive steps that are separate from Ca2+ binding steps.
Based on this result and the macroscopic steady state and kinetic pro
perties of the cloned BK channel mslo, we have recently proposed a gen
eral kinetic scheme to describe the interaction between voltage and Ca
2+ in the gating of the mslo channel (Cui, J., D.H. Cox, and R.W. Aldr
ich. 1997. J. Gen. Physiol. In press.). This scheme supposes that the
channel exists in two main conformations, closed and open. The conform
ational change between closed and open is voltage dependent. Ca2+ bind
s to both the closed and open conformations, but on average binds more
tightly to the open conformation and thereby promotes channel opening
. Here we describe the basic properties of models of this form and tes
t their ability to mimic mslo macroscopic steady state and kinetic beh
avior. The simplest form of this scheme corresponds to a voltage-depen
dent version of the Monod-Wyman-Changeux (MWC) model of allosteric pro
teins. The success of voltage-dependent MWC models in describing many
aspects of mslo gating suggests that these channels may share a common
molecular mechanism with other allosteric proteins whose behaviors ha
ve been modeled using the MWC formalism. We also demonstrate how this
scheme can arise as a simplification of a more complex scheme that is
based on the premise that the channel is a homotetramer with a single
Ca2+ binding site and a single voltage sensor in each subunit. Aspects
of the mule data not well fitted by the simplified scheme will likely
be better accounted for by this more general scheme. The kinetic sche
mes discussed in this paper may be useful in interpreting the effects
of BK channel modifications or mutations.