title: Involvement of the cysteine-rich head domain in activation and desensitization of the P2X1 receptor.
abstract: P2X receptors (P2XRs) are ligand-gated ion channels activated by extracellular ATP. Although the crystal structure of the zebrafish P2X4R has been solved, the exact mode of ATP binding and the conformational changes governing channel opening and desensitization remain unknown. Here, we used voltage clamp fluorometry to investigate movements in the cysteine-rich head domain of the rat P2X1R (A118-I125) that projects over the proposed ATP binding site. On substitution with cysteine residues, six of these residues (N120-I125) were specifically labeled by tetramethyl-rhodamine-maleimide and showed significant changes in the emission of the fluorescence probe on application of the agonists ATP and benzoyl-benzoyl-ATP. Mutants N120C and G123C showed fast fluorescence decreases with similar kinetics as the current increases. In contrast, mutants P121C and I125C showed slow fluorescence increases that seemed to correlate with the current decline during desensitization. Mutant E122C showed a slow fluorescence increase and fast decrease with ATP and benzoyl-benzoyl-ATP, respectively. Application of the competitive antagonist 2',3'-O-(2,4,6-trinitrophenyl)-ATP (TNP-ATP) resulted in large fluorescence changes with the N120C, E122C, and G123C mutants and minor or no changes with the other mutants. Likewise, TNP-ATP-induced changes in control mutants distant from the proposed ATP binding site were comparably small or absent. Combined with molecular modeling studies, our data confirm the proposed ATP binding site and provide evidence that ATP orients in its binding site with the ribose moiety facing the solution. We also conclude that P2XR activation and desensitization involve movements of the cysteine-rich head domain.
authors: Department of Molecular Biology of Neuronal Signals,  Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, 37075 Göttingen,  Germany.
authors: Éva
authors: É
authors: Lörinczi
authors: Yogesh
authors: Y
authors: Bhargava
authors: Stephen F
authors: SF
authors: Marino
authors: Antoine
authors: A
authors: Taly
authors: Karina
authors: K
authors: Kaczmarek-Hájek
authors: Alonso
authors: A
authors: Barrantes-Freer
authors: Sébastien
authors: S
authors: Dutertre
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Grutter
authors: Jürgen
authors: J
authors: Rettinger
authors: Annette
authors: A
authors: Nicke
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002412:Cations; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray / Q000379:methods; D003545:Cysteine / Q000737:chemistry*; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000379:methods; D007700:Kinetics; D008301:Maleimides / Q000737:chemistry; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods; D009154:Mutation; D009865:Oocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D051381:Rats; D058474:Receptors, Purinergic P2X1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D012235:Rhodamines / Q000737:chemistry; D014981:Xenopus / Q000378:metabolism; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002412:Cations; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D008301:Maleimides; D058474:Receptors, Purinergic P2X1; D012235:Rhodamines; C043592:maleimide; C005358:tetramethylrhodamine; D003545:Cysteine