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Voltage-dependent gating of KCNH potassium channels lacking a covalent link between voltage-sensing and pore domains

Author

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  • Éva Lörinczi

    (Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine
    Present address: Department of Cell Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 9HN, UK)

  • Juan Camilo Gómez-Posada

    (Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine)

  • Pilar de la Peña

    (Universidad de Oviedo)

  • Adam P. Tomczak

    (Oncophysiology Group, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine)

  • Jorge Fernández-Trillo

    (Oncophysiology Group, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine)

  • Ulrike Leipscher

    (Oncophysiology Group, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine)

  • Walter Stühmer

    (Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine
    Cluster of Excellence Nanoscale Microscopy and Molecular Physiology of the Brain)

  • Francisco Barros

    (Universidad de Oviedo)

  • Luis A. Pardo

    (Oncophysiology Group, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine)

Abstract

Voltage-gated channels open paths for ion permeation upon changes in membrane potential, but how voltage changes are coupled to gating is not entirely understood. Two modules can be recognized in voltage-gated potassium channels, one responsible for voltage sensing (transmembrane segments S1 to S4), the other for permeation (S5 and S6). It is generally assumed that the conversion of a conformational change in the voltage sensor into channel gating occurs through the intracellular S4–S5 linker that provides physical continuity between the two regions. Using the pathophysiologically relevant KCNH family, we show that truncated proteins interrupted at, or lacking the S4–S5 linker produce voltage-gated channels in a heterologous model that recapitulate both the voltage-sensing and permeation properties of the complete protein. These observations indicate that voltage sensing by the S4 segment is transduced to the channel gate in the absence of physical continuity between the modules.

Suggested Citation

  • Éva Lörinczi & Juan Camilo Gómez-Posada & Pilar de la Peña & Adam P. Tomczak & Jorge Fernández-Trillo & Ulrike Leipscher & Walter Stühmer & Francisco Barros & Luis A. Pardo, 2015. "Voltage-dependent gating of KCNH potassium channels lacking a covalent link between voltage-sensing and pore domains," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-14, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms7672
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7672
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