Effect of homologous serotonin receptor loop substitutions on the heterologous expression in Pichia of a chimeric acetylcholine-binding protein with alpha-bungarotoxin-binding activity.

ABSTRACT: The molluscan acetylcholine-binding protein (AChBP) is a soluble homopentameric homolog of the extracellular domain of various ligand-gated ion channels. Previous studies have reported that AChBP, when fused to the ion pore domain of the serotonin receptor (5HT(3A)R), can form a functional ligand-gated chimeric channel only if the AChBP loop regions between beta-strands beta1 and beta2 (beta1-beta2), beta6 and beta7 (beta6-beta7), and beta8 and beta9 (beta8-beta9) are replaced with those of the 5HT(3A)R. To investigate further the potential interactions among these three important loop regions in a membrane- and detergent-free system, we designed AChBP constructs in which loops beta1-beta2, beta6-beta7, and beta8-beta9 of the AChBP were individually and combinatorially substituted in all p

SUBMITTER: Paulo JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2713376 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature