Acetylcholine receptor gating: movement in the alpha-subunit extracellular domain.

ABSTRACT: Acetylcholine receptor channel gating is a brownian conformational cascade in which nanometer-sized domains ("Phi blocks") move in staggering sequence to link an affinity change at the transmitter binding sites with a conductance change in the pore. In the alpha-subunit, the first Phi-block to move during channel opening is comprised of residues near the transmitter binding site and the second is comprised of residues near the base of the extracellular domain. We used the rate constants estimated from single-channel currents to infer the gating dynamics of Y127 and K145, in the inner and outer sheet of the beta-core of the alpha-subunit. Y127 is at the boundary between the first and second Phi blocks, at a subunit interface. alphaY127 mutations cause large changes in the gating equilibrium

SUBMITTER: Purohit P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2151656 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature