Newest Articles
Functional characterization of purified SthK channelsSthK is a bacterial cyclic nucleotide–gated ion channel from Spirochaeta thermophila. By optimizing the expression and purification of SthK, Schmidpeter et al. show that cAMP and cGMP bind to the channel with similar affinity but activate it with different efficacy.
A snail proton channel with anomalous propertiesVoltage-gated proton currents were first discovered in snail neurons. Thomas et al. identify a snail proton channel gene that codes for a rapidly activating proton channel that differs from other proton channels, in particular by its low sensitivity to intracellular pH.
His168 is an internal pH sensor of hHV1Voltage-gated proton channels open appropriately in myriad physiological situations because their gating is powerfully modulated by both pHo and pHi. Cherny et al. serendipitously identify a histidine at the inner end of the S3 helix that is required for the response to pHi.
Cypher regulates CaV1.2 calcium channelA-kinase anchoring proteins are required for β-adrenergic stimulation of L-type Ca2+ channels in cardiac myocytes, but the molecular species that is responsible for this regulation remains unknown. Yu et al. reveal that Cypher/Zasp is a key regulator of β-adrenergic regulation in cardiac myocytes.
Zn2+-dependent conformational coupling in Hv1Hv1 proteins form a voltage-gated proton channel that is inhibited by extracellular Zn2+. De La Rosa et al find that extracellular Zn2+ is octahedrally coordinated by specific protein atoms and that Zn2+ occupancy modulates voltage sensor activation in Hv1 by long-range conformational coupling to a conserved intracellular electrostatic network.
Ligand-induced structural rearrangements in TRPA1TRPA1 channels transduce chemical, inflammatory, and neuropathic pain and are modulated by both electrophilic and nonelectrophilic compounds. Samanta et al. show that these modulators cause conformational rearrangements in the N-terminal ankyrin repeats, the pre-S1 helix, the TRP-like domain, and the linkers region of the channel.
Voltage-sensing phosphatase dimerization impacts functionThe Ciona intestinalis voltage-sensing phosphatase (Ci-VSP) was not thought to multimerize. Rayaprolu et al. show that Ci-VSP exists as a dimer and that this interaction lowers the voltage dependence of activation and alters substrate specificity.
Influences: Childhood, boyhood, and youthMiller recounts the distinct influences that Gilbert Ling and Efraim Racker had on his early career.
Cryo-EM structures of KATP channelsPuljung reviews recent cryo-EM KATP channel structures and proposes a mechanism by which ligand binding results in channel opening.
Deafness-associated mutation opens the gate to understandingNew JGP study uncovers a connection between Connexin 26 fast and slow gates.
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Current Issue
June 4, 2018
Volume 150, No. 6
