title: Conductance studies on trichotoxin_A50E and implications for channel structure.
abstract: Trichotoxin_A50E is an 18-residue peptaibol whose crystal structure has recently been determined. In this study, the conductance properties of trichotoxin_A50E have been investigated in neutral planar lipid bilayers. The macroscopic current-voltage curves disclose a moderate voltage-sensitivity and the concentration-dependence suggests the channels are primarily hexameric. Under ion gradients, shifts of the reversal potential indicate that cations are preferentially transported. Trichotoxin displays only one single-channel conductance state in a given experiment, but an ensemble of experiments reveals a distribution of conductance levels. This contrasts with the related peptaibol alamethicin, which produces multiple channel levels in a single experiment, indicative of recruitment of additional monomers into different multimeric-sized channels. Based on these conductance measurements and on the recently available crystal structure of trichotoxin_A50E, which is a shorter and straighter helix than alamethicin, a tightly-packed hexameric model structure has been constructed for the trichotoxin channel. It has molecular dimensions and surface electrostatic potential compatible with the observed conductance properties of the most probable and longer-lived channel.
authors.affiliation: Interactions Cellulaires et Moléculaires, UMR 6026 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-Université de Rennes I, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France. herve-duclohier@wanadoo.fr
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Duclohier
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Alder
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Bashford
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Brückner
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Chugh
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Wallace
mesh_terms: D000408:Alamethicin / Q000737:chemistry; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D002412:Cations; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004594:Electrophysiology; D015640:Ion Channel Gating; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000737:chemistry*; D007477:Ions; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization
chemical_list: D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D002412:Cations; D007473:Ion Channels; D007477:Ions; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D010455:Peptides; D000408:Alamethicin; C016161:trichotoxin