title: The emerging three-dimensional structure of a receptor. The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor.
abstract: The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor is the neurotransmitter receptor with the most-characterized protein structure. The amino acid sequences of its five subunits have been elucidated by cDNA cloning and sequencing. Its shape and dimensions (approximately 12.5 nm x 8 nm) were deduced from electron-microscopy studies. Its subunits are arranged around a five-fold axis of pseudosymmetry in the order (clockwise) alpha H gamma alpha L delta beta. Its two agonist/competitive-antagonist-binding sites have been localized by photolabelling studies to a deep gorge between the subunits near the membrane surface. Its ion channel is formed by five membrane-spanning (M2) helices that are contributed by the five subunits. This finding has been generalized as the Helix M2 model for the superfamily of ligand-gated ion channels. The binding site for regulatory non-competitive antagonists has been localized by photolabelling and site-directed-mutagenesis studies within this ion channel. Therefore a three-dimensional image of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor is emerging, the most prominent feature of which is an active site that combines the agonist/ competitive-antagonist-binding sites, the regulatory site and the ion channel within a relatively narrow space close to and within the bilayer membrane.
authors.affiliation: Freic Universität Berlin, Institut für Biochemie, Germany.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hucho
authors.forename: V I
authors.initials: VI
authors.lastname: Tsetlin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Machold
mesh_terms: D000109:Acetylcholine; D000494:Allosteric Regulation; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D008024:Ligands; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic; D000109:Acetylcholine