The Journal of General Physiology
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Published online Jun 28 2004. doi:10.1085/jgp.200409048
The Rockefeller University Press, 0022-1295 $8.00
JGP, Volume 124, Number 1, 71-81
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Binding of {kappa}-Conotoxin PVIIA to Shaker K+ Channels Reveals Different K+ and Rb+ Occupancies within the Ion Channel Pore

Anna Boccaccio1, Franco Conti2, Baldomero M. Olivera3, and Heinrich Terlau1

1 Max-Planck-Institute for Experimental Medicine, Molecular and Cellular Neuropharmacology Group, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany
2 Istituto di Biofisica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, I-16149 Genova, Italy
3 Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112

Address correspondence to Heinrich Terlau, Max-Planck-Institute for Experimental Medicine, Molecular and Cellular Neuropharmacology Group, Hermann-Rein-Str.3, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany. Fax: 49-551-3899-475. email: hterlau{at}gwdg.de

The x-ray structure of the KcsA channel at different [K+] and [Rb+] provided insight into how K+ channels might achieve high selectivity and high K+ transit rates and showed marked differences between the occupancies of the two ions within the ion channel pore. In this study, the binding of {kappa}-conotoxin PVIIA ({kappa}-PVIIA) to Shaker K+ channel in the presence of K+ and Rb+ was investigated. It is demonstrated that the complex results obtained were largely rationalized by differences in selectivity filter occupancy of this 6TM channels as predicted from the structural work on KcsA. {kappa}-PVIIA inhibition of the Shaker K+ channel differs in the closed and open state. When K+ is the only permeant ion, increasing extracellular [K+] decreases {kappa}-PVIIA affinity for closed channels by decreasing the "on" binding rate, but has no effect on the block of open channels, which is influenced only by the intracellular [K+]. In contrast, extracellular [Rb+] affects both closed- and open-channel binding. As extracellular [Rb+] increases, (a) binding to the closed channel is slightly destabilized and acquires faster kinetics, and (b) open channel block is also destabilized and the lowest block seems to occur when the pore is likely filled only by Rb+. These results suggest that the nature of the permeant ions determines both the occupancy and the location of the pore site from which they interact with {kappa}-PVIIA binding. Thus, our results suggest that the permeant ion(s) within a channel pore can determine its functional and pharmacological properties.

Key Words: voltage-gated potassium channels • permeation • conotoxins • pore block • Xenopus oocytes


A. Boccaccio's present address is International School for Advanced Studies, S.I.S.S.A., Sector of Neurobiology, Via Beirut 2, 34014 Trieste, Italy.

Abbreviations used in this paper: CTX, charybdotoxin; {kappa}-PVIIA, {kappa}-conotoxin PVIIA; TEA, tetraethylammonium.


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