title: A transient receptor potential ion channel in Chlamydomonas shares key features with sensory transduction-associated TRP channels in mammals.
abstract: Sensory modalities are essential for navigating through an ever-changing environment. From insects to mammals, transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are known mediators for cellular sensing. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a motile single-celled freshwater green alga that is guided by photosensory, mechanosensory, and chemosensory cues. In this type of alga, sensory input is first detected by membrane receptors located in the cell body and then transduced to the beating cilia by membrane depolarization. Although TRP channels seem to be absent in plants, C. reinhardtii possesses genomic sequences encoding TRP proteins. Here, we describe the cloning and characterization of a C. reinhardtii version of a TRP channel sharing key features present in mammalian TRP channels associated with sensory transduction. In silico sequence-structure analysis unveiled the modular design of TRP channels, and electrophysiological experiments conducted on Human Embryonic Kidney-293T cells expressing the Cr-TRP1 clone showed that many of the core functional features of metazoan TRP channels are present in Cr-TRP1, suggesting that basic TRP channel gating characteristics evolved early in the history of eukaryotes.
authors.affiliation: Physiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Austral de Chile, Campus Isla Teja, Valdivia 5110566, Chile.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Arias-Darraz
authors.affiliation: Physiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Austral de Chile, Campus Isla Teja, Valdivia 5110566, Chile.
authors.forename: Deny
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cabezas
authors.affiliation: Physiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Austral de Chile, Campus Isla Teja, Valdivia 5110566, Chile.
authors.forename: Charlotte K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Colenso
authors.affiliation: Universidad Andres Bello, Center for Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Santiago 8370146, Chile.
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alegría-Arcos
authors.affiliation: Universidad Andres Bello, Center for Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Santiago 8370146, Chile.
authors.forename: Felipe
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bravo-Moraga
authors.affiliation: Universidad Andres Bello, Center for Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Santiago 8370146, Chile.
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Varas-Concha
authors.affiliation: Universidad Andres Bello, Center for Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Santiago 8370146, Chile CINV, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso 2366103, Chile.
authors.forename: Daniel E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Almonacid
authors.affiliation: Biology Department, Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago 9160000, Chile.
authors.forename: Rodolfo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Madrid
authors.affiliation: Physiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Austral de Chile, Campus Isla Teja, Valdivia 5110566, Chile sbrauchi@uach.cl.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brauchi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D002696:Chlamydomonas / Q000378:metabolism*; D004594:Electrophysiology; D006801:Humans; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000378:metabolism*; D008322:Mammals / Q000378:metabolism*; D050051:Transient Receptor Potential Channels / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D007473:Ion Channels; D050051:Transient Receptor Potential Channels