Inter-subunit interactions across the upper voltage sensing-pore domain interface contribute to the concerted pore opening transition of Kv channels.

ABSTRACT: The tight electro-mechanical coupling between the voltage-sensing and pore domains of Kv channels lies at the heart of their fundamental roles in electrical signaling. Structural data have identified two voltage sensor pore inter-domain interaction surfaces, thus providing a framework to explain the molecular basis for the tight coupling of these domains. While the contribution of the intra-subunit lower domain interface to the electro-mechanical coupling that underlies channel opening is relatively well understood, the contribution of the inter-subunit upper interface to channel gating is not yet clear. Relying on energy perturbation and thermodynamic coupling analyses of tandem-dimeric Shaker Kv channels, we show that mutation of upper interface residues from both sides of the voltage se

SUBMITTER: Shem-Ad T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3858418 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature