title: Electrophysiological evidence for heptameric stoichiometry of ion channels formed by Staphylococcus aureus alpha-toxin in planar lipid bilayers.
abstract: Staphylococcal alpha-toxin forms homo-oligomeric channels in lipid bilayers and cell membranes. Here, we report that electrophysiological monitoring of single-channel function using a derivatized cysteine substitution mutant allows accurate determination of the subunit stoichiometry of the oligomer in situ. The electrophysiological phenotype of channels formed in planar lipid bilayers with the cysteine replacement mutant I7C is equal to that of the wild type. When pores were formed with I7C, alterations of several channel properties were observed upon modification with SH reagents. Decreases in conductance then occurred that were seen only as negative voltage was applied. At the level of single channels, these were manifest as stepwise changes in conductance, each step most probably reflecting modification of a single SH group within the oligomer. Because seven steps were observed, the functional channel formed by alpha-toxin in planar lipid membranes is a heptamer.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Membrane Biophysics, Department of Biophysics and Radiobiology, Federal University of Pernambuco, 50670-901, Recife, PE, Brazil. kras@npd.ufpe.br
authors.forename: O V
authors.initials: OV
authors.lastname: Krasilnikov
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Merzlyak
authors.forename: L N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Yuldasheva
authors.forename: C G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bhakdi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Valeva
mesh_terms: D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D003545:Cysteine; D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000379:methods*; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000737:chemistry*; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D009154:Mutation; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; D007473:Ion Channels; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; C021091:staphylococcal alpha-toxin; D003545:Cysteine