title: Nonglutamate pore residues in ion selection and conduction in voltage-gated Ca2+ channels.
abstract: High-affinity, intrapore binding of Ca(2+) over competing ions is the essential feature in the ion selectivity mechanism of voltage-gated Ca(2+) channels. At the same time, several million Ca(2+) ions can travel each second through the pore of a single open Ca(2+) channel. How such high Ca(2+) flux is achieved in the face of tight Ca(2+) binding is a current area of inquiry, particularly from a structural point of view. The ion selectivity locus comprises four glutamate residues within the channel's pore. These glutamates make unequal contributions to Ca(2+) binding, underscoring a role for neighboring residues in pore function. By comparing two Ca(2+) channels (the L-type alpha(1C), and the non-L-type alpha(1A)) that differ in their pore properties but only differ at a single amino acid position near the selectivity locus, we have identified the amino-terminal neighbor of the glutamate residue in motif III as a determinant of pore function. This position is more important in the function of alpha(1C) channels than in alpha(1A) channels. For a systematic series of mutations at this pore position in alpha(1C), both unitary Ba(2+) conductance and Cd(2+) block of Ba(2+) current varied with residue volume. Pore mutations designed to make alpha(1C) more like alpha(1A) and vice versa revealed that relative selectivity for Ba(2+) over K(+) depended almost solely on pore sequence and not channel type. Analysis of thermodynamic mutant cycles indicates that the motif III neighbor normally interacts in a cooperative fashion with the locus, molding the functional behavior of the pore.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Program in Neuroscience, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado 80262, USA.
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Sather
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D015220:Calcium Channels / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020746:Calcium Channels, L-Type / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D009154:Mutation; D016062:Porosity; D011817:Rabbits; D013379:Substrate Specificity
chemical_list: D015220:Calcium Channels; D020746:Calcium Channels, L-Type; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D002118:Calcium