title: Open channel block by Ca2+ underlies the voltage dependence of drosophila TRPL channel.
abstract: The light-activated channels of Drosophila photoreceptors transient receptor potential (TRP) and TRP-like (TRPL) show voltage-dependent conductance during illumination. Recent studies implied that mammalian members of the TRP family, which belong to the TRPV and TRPM subfamilies, are intrinsically voltage-gated channels. However, it is unclear whether the Drosophila TRPs, which belong to the TRPC subfamily, share the same voltage-dependent gating mechanism. Exploring the voltage dependence of Drosophila TRPL expressed in S2 cells, we found that the voltage dependence of this channel is not an intrinsic property since it became linear upon removal of divalent cations. We further found that Ca(2+) blocked TRPL in a voltage-dependent manner by an open channel block mechanism, which determines the frequency of channel openings and constitutes the sole parameter that underlies its voltage dependence. Whole cell recordings from a Drosophila mutant expressing only TRPL indicated that Ca(2+) block also accounts for the voltage dependence of the native TRPL channels. The open channel block by Ca(2+) that we characterized is a useful mechanism to improve the signal to noise ratio of the response to intense light when virtually all the large conductance TRPL channels are blocked and only the low conductance TRP channels with lower Ca(2+) affinity are active.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and the Kühne Minerva Center for Studies of Visual Transduction, Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91120, Israel.
authors.forename: Moshe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parnas
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Katz
authors.forename: Baruch
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Minke
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001464:Barium / Q000494:pharmacology; D002118:Calcium / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004330:Drosophila / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D050051:Transient Receptor Potential Channels / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D050051:Transient Receptor Potential Channels; C074192:trpl protein, Drosophila; D001464:Barium; D002118:Calcium