scholarly journals Phosphatidic acid modulation of Kv channel voltage sensor function

eLife ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard K Hite ◽  
Joel A Butterwick ◽  
Roderick MacKinnon

Membrane phospholipids can function as potent regulators of ion channel function. This study uncovers and investigates the effect of phosphatidic acid on Kv channel gating. Using the method of reconstitution into planar lipid bilayers, in which protein and lipid components are defined and controlled, we characterize two effects of phosphatidic acid. The first is a non-specific electrostatic influence on activation mediated by electric charge density on the extracellular and intracellular membrane surfaces. The second is specific to the presence of a primary phosphate group, acts only through the intracellular membrane leaflet and depends on the presence of a particular arginine residue in the voltage sensor. Intracellular phosphatidic acid accounts for a nearly 50 mV shift in the midpoint of the activation curve in a direction consistent with stabilization of the voltage sensor's closed conformation. These findings support a novel mechanism of voltage sensor regulation by the signaling lipid phosphatidic acid.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheena Dass ◽  
Serena Shunmugam ◽  
Laurence Berry ◽  
Christophe-Sebastien Arnold ◽  
Nicholas J. Katris ◽  
...  

AbstractApicomplexa are obligate intracellular parasites responsible for major human diseases. Their intracellular survival relies on intense lipid synthesis, which fuels membrane biogenesis. Parasite lipids are generated as an essential combination of fatty acids scavenged from the host and de novo synthesized within the parasite apicoplast. The molecular and metabolic mechanisms allowing regulation and channeling of these fatty acid fluxes for intracellular parasite survival are currently unknown. Here, we identify an essential phosphatidic acid phosphatase in Toxoplasma gondii, TgLIPIN, as the central metabolic nexus responsible for controlled lipid synthesis sustaining parasite development. Lipidomics reveal that TgLIPIN controls the synthesis of diacylglycerol and levels of phosphatidic acid that regulates the fine balance of lipids between storage and membrane biogenesis. Using fluxomic approaches, we uncover the first parasite host-scavenged lipidome and show that TgLIPIN prevents parasite death by ‘lipotoxicity’ through effective channeling of host-scavenged fatty acids to storage triacylglycerols and membrane phospholipids.


2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-423
Author(s):  
Daniel Branton

In 1961, the development of an improved freeze-etching (FE) procedure to prepare rapidly frozen biological cells or tissues for electron microscopy raised two important questions. How does a frozen cell membrane fracture? What do the extensive face views of the cell’s membranes exposed by the fracture process of FE tell us about the overall structure of biological membranes? I discovered that all frozen membranes tend to split along weakly bonded lipid bilayers. Consequently, the fracture process exposes internal membrane faces rather than either of the membrane’s two external surfaces. During etching, when ice is allowed to sublime after fracturing, limited regions of the actual membrane surfaces are revealed. Examination of the fractured faces and etched surfaces provided strong evidence that biological membranes are organized as lipid bilayers with some proteins on the surface and other proteins extending through the bilayer. Membrane splitting made it possible for electron microscopy to show the relative proportion of a membrane’s area that exists in either of these two organizational modes.


1987 ◽  
Vol 253 (1) ◽  
pp. G62-G67
Author(s):  
T. Chiba ◽  
K. Sugano ◽  
J. Park ◽  
T. Yamada

We examined the possible importance of protein kinase c-dependent mechanisms in mediating the stimulatory effects of gastrin and cholecystokinin (CCK) on the release of somatostatin-like immunoreactivity (SLI) from isolated canine fundic D-cells. Diacylglycerides, presumably the products of phosphoinositide breakdown that activate protein kinasec, and phospholipase C, which catalyzes the production of endogenous diacylglycerides from membrane phospholipids, both stimulated SLI secretion in a dose-dependent fashion. Both classes of agents potentiated the actions of adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate-dependent agonists but not those of gastrin and CCK. The stimulatory effects of gastrin and CCK correlated with their abilities to enhance the incorporation of 32P into membrane phosphatidyl inositol and phosphatidic acid and promote the release of [3H]inositol trisphosphate from prelabeled D-cells, two parameters of phosphoinositide turnover. These data suggest that protein kinase c may serve to transduce the signals activated by gastrin and CCK in D-cells.


2014 ◽  
Vol 144 (5) ◽  
pp. 457-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandipan Chowdhury ◽  
Benjamin M. Haehnel ◽  
Baron Chanda

Voltage-dependent potassium channels play a crucial role in electrical excitability and cellular signaling by regulating potassium ion flux across membranes. Movement of charged residues in the voltage-sensing domain leads to a series of conformational changes that culminate in channel opening in response to changes in membrane potential. However, the molecular machinery that relays these conformational changes from voltage sensor to the pore is not well understood. Here we use generalized interaction-energy analysis (GIA) to estimate the strength of site-specific interactions between amino acid residues putatively involved in the electromechanical coupling of the voltage sensor and pore in the outwardly rectifying KV channel. We identified candidate interactors at the interface between the S4–S5 linker and the pore domain using a structure-guided graph theoretical approach that revealed clusters of conserved and closely packed residues. One such cluster, located at the intracellular intersubunit interface, comprises three residues (arginine 394, glutamate 395, and tyrosine 485) that interact with each other. The calculated interaction energies were 3–5 kcal, which is especially notable given that the net free-energy change during activation of the Shaker KV channel is ∼14 kcal. We find that this triad is delicately maintained by balance of interactions that are responsible for structural integrity of the intersubunit interface while maintaining sufficient flexibility at a critical gating hinge for optimal transmission of force to the pore gate.


2000 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 501-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukas K. Tamm ◽  
Xing Han

The structure and function of viral fusion peptides are reviewed. The fusion peptides of influenza virus hemagglutinin and human immunodeficiency virus are used as paradigms. Fusion peptides associated with lipid bilayers are conformationally polymorphic. Current evidence suggests that the fusion-promoting state is the obliquely inserted α-helix. Fusion peptides also have a tendency to self-associate into γ-sheets at membrane surfaces. Although the conformational conversion between α- and γ-states is reversible under controlled conditions, its physiological relevance is not yet known. The energetics of peptide insertion and self-association could be measured recently using more soluble “second generation” fusion peptides. Fusion peptides have been reported to change membrane curvature and the state of hydration of membrane surfaces. The combined results are built into a model for the mechanism by which fusion peptides are proposed to assist in biological membrane fusion.


2014 ◽  
Vol 106 (2) ◽  
pp. 16a
Author(s):  
Jerome J. Lacroix ◽  
Clark H. Hyde ◽  
Fabiana V. Campos ◽  
Francisco Bezanilla

2012 ◽  
Vol 140 (6) ◽  
pp. 635-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jérôme J. Lacroix ◽  
Stephan A. Pless ◽  
Luca Maragliano ◽  
Fabiana V. Campos ◽  
Jason D. Galpin ◽  
...  

Voltage sensor domains (VSDs) regulate ion channels and enzymes by undergoing conformational changes depending on membrane electrical signals. The molecular mechanisms underlying the VSD transitions are not fully understood. Here, we show that some mutations of I241 in the S1 segment of the Shaker Kv channel positively shift the voltage dependence of the VSD movement and alter the functional coupling between VSD and pore domains. Among the I241 mutants, I241W immobilized the VSD movement during activation and deactivation, approximately halfway between the resting and active states, and drastically shifted the voltage activation of the ionic conductance. This phenotype, which is consistent with a stabilization of an intermediate VSD conformation by the I241W mutation, was diminished by the charge-conserving R2K mutation but not by the charge-neutralizing R2Q mutation. Interestingly, most of these effects were reproduced by the F244W mutation located one helical turn above I241. Electrophysiology recordings using nonnatural indole derivatives ruled out the involvement of cation-Π interactions for the effects of the Trp inserted at positions I241 and F244 on the channel’s conductance, but showed that the indole nitrogen was important for the I241W phenotype. Insight into the molecular mechanisms responsible for the stabilization of the intermediate state were investigated by creating in silico the mutations I241W, I241W/R2K, and F244W in intermediate conformations obtained from a computational VSD transition pathway determined using the string method. The experimental results and computational analysis suggest that the phenotype of I241W may originate in the formation of a hydrogen bond between the indole nitrogen atom and the backbone carbonyl of R2. This work provides new information on intermediate states in voltage-gated ion channels with an approach that produces minimum chemical perturbation.


2014 ◽  
Vol 111 (19) ◽  
pp. E1950-E1959 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. J. Lacroix ◽  
H. C. Hyde ◽  
F. V. Campos ◽  
F. Bezanilla

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