Logo image
cAMP binding to closed pacemaker ion channels is non-cooperative
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

cAMP binding to closed pacemaker ion channels is non-cooperative

David S. White, Sandipan Chowdhury, Vinay Idikuda, Ruohan Zhang, Scott T. Retterer, Randall H. Goldsmith and Baron Chanda
Nature (London), Vol.595(7868), pp.606-610
07/22/2021
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03686-x
PMCID: PMC8513821
PMID: 34194042
url
https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1817381View
Open Access

Abstract

Electrical activity in the brain and heart depends on rhythmic generation of action potentials by pacemaker ion channels (HCN) whose activity is regulated by cAMP binding(1). Previous work has uncovered evidence for both positive and negative cooperativity in cAMP binding(2,3), but such bulk measurements suffer from limited parameter resolution. Efforts to eliminate this ambiguity using single-molecule techniques have been hampered by the inability to directly monitor binding of individual ligand molecules to membrane receptors at physiological concentrations. Here we overcome these challenges using nanophotonic zero-mode waveguides(4) to directly resolve binding dynamics of individual ligands to multimeric HCN1 and HCN2 ion channels. We show that cAMP binds independently to all four subunits when the pore is closed, despite a subsequent conformational isomerization to a flip state at each site. The different dynamics in binding and isomerization are likely to underlie physiologically distinct responses of each isoform to cAMP5 and provide direct validation of the ligand-induced flip-state model(6-9). This approach for observing stepwise binding in multimeric proteins at physiologically relevant concentrations can directly probe binding allostery at single-molecule resolution in other intact membrane proteins and receptors.
Multidisciplinary Sciences Science & Technology Science & Technology - Other Topics

Details

Logo image