Structure of the sodium channel pore revealed by serial cysteine mutagenesis.
Abstract
The pores of voltage-gated cation channels are formed by four intramembrane segments that impart selectivity and conductance. Remarkably little is known about the higher order structure of these critical pore-lining or P segments. Serial cysteine mutagenesis reveals a pattern of side-chain accessibility that contradicts currently favored structural models based on alpha-helices or beta-strands. Like the active sites of many enzymes of known structure, the sodium channel pore consists of irregular loop regions.
- Publication:
-
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- January 1996
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.93.1.300
- Bibcode:
- 1996PNAS...93..300P