Pannexin-1 is blocked by its C-terminus through a delocalized non-specific interaction surface.

ABSTRACT: The Pannexin-1 (Panx1) channel is known to become activated under a variety of physiological conditions resulting in the release of medium-sized molecules such as ATP and amino acids from the cell. The detailed molecular mechanism of activation of the channel resulting in the opening of the Pannexin pore is poorly understood. The best-studied gating mechanism is caspase-3/7-mediated cleavage and truncation of the c-terminus. In the absence of caspase-cleavage, the c-terminal peptide maintains the channel in the closed state, possibly by directly plugging the pore from the intracellular side. We sought to understand in detail the part of the c-terminus necessary for this interaction by alanine-scanning and truncation mutagenesis of the c-terminal gating peptide. These experiments demonstrat

SUBMITTER: Dourado M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4049774 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature