Dual-function ion channel/protein kinases: novel components of vertebrate magnesium regulatory mechanisms.

Although magnesium is the dominant divalent intracellular cation and is required for the function of diverse types of enzymes that participate in virtually every cellular process, the molecular mechanisms that regulate its homeostasis are poorly understood. Electrophysiologic and biochemical investigations of a novel dual-function ion channel/kinase protein have recently converged with the identification of the gene locus for an autosomal recessive form of inherited hypomagnesemia to provide new insight into vertebrate magnesium regulatory mechanisms.