Modular thermal sensors in temperature-gated transient receptor potential (TRP) channels.

ABSTRACT: The molecular basis of the thermal sensitivity of temperature-sensitive channels appears to arise from a specific protein domain rather than integration of global thermal effects. Using systematic chimeric analysis, we show that the N-terminal region that connects ankyrin repeats to the first transmembrane segment is crucial for temperature sensing in heat-activated vanilloid receptor channels. Changing this region both transformed temperature-insensitive isoforms into temperature-sensitive channels and significantly perturbed temperature sensing in temperature-sensitive wild-type channels. Swapping other domains such as the transmembrane core, the C terminus, and the rest of the N terminus had little effect on the steepness of temperature dependence. Our results support that thermal trans

SUBMITTER: Yao J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3131340 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature