| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Center for Single Molecule Biophysics and the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York
Correspondence: Address reprint requests to S. Licht, Tel.: 617-452-3525; E-mail: lichts{at}mit.edu.
Like other protein conformational changes, ion channel gating requires the protein to achieve a high-energy transition-state structure. It is not known whether ion channel gating takes place on a broad energy landscape on which many alternative transition state structures are accessible, or on a narrow energy landscape where only a few transition-state structures are possible. To address this question, we measured how rate-equilibrium free energy relationships (REFERs) for di-liganded and unliganded acetylcholine receptor gating vary as a function of the gating equilibrium constant. A large slope for the REFER plot indicates an openlike transition state, whereas a small slope indicates a closedlike transition state. Due to this relationship between REFERs and transition-state structure, the sensitivity of the REFER slope to mutation-induced energetic perturbations allows estimation of the breadth of the energy landscape underlying gating. The relatively large sensitivity of di-liganded REFER slopes to energetic perturbations suggests that the motions underlying di-liganded gating take place on a broad, shallow energy landscape where many alternative transition-state structures are accessible.
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
Z. Guo, C. Lv, H. Yi, Y. Xiong, Y. Wu, W. Li, T. Xu, and J. Ding A Residue at the Cytoplasmic Entrance of BK-Type Channels Regulating Single-Channel Opening by Its Hydrophobicity Biophys. J., May 1, 2008; 94(9): 3714 - 3725. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. W. R. Serohijos, T. Hegedus, A. A. Aleksandrov, L. He, L. Cui, N. V. Dokholyan, and J. R. Riordan Phenylalanine-508 mediates a cytoplasmic-membrane domain contact in the CFTR 3D structure crucial to assembly and channel function PNAS, March 4, 2008; 105(9): 3256 - 3261. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
D. J. Cadugan and A. Auerbach Conformational Dynamics of the {alpha}M3 Transmembrane Helix during Acetylcholine Receptor Channel Gating Biophys. J., August 1, 2007; 93(3): 859 - 865. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |