Deprecated: Implicit conversion from float 211.6 to int loses precision in C:\Inetpub\vhosts\kidney.de\httpdocs\pget.php on line 534
Deprecated: Implicit conversion from float 211.6 to int loses precision in C:\Inetpub\vhosts\kidney.de\httpdocs\pget.php on line 534
Deprecated: Implicit conversion from float 211.6 to int loses precision in C:\Inetpub\vhosts\kidney.de\httpdocs\pget.php on line 534
Deprecated: Implicit conversion from float 211.6 to int loses precision in C:\Inetpub\vhosts\kidney.de\httpdocs\pget.php on line 534 J+Membr+Biol 2015 ; 248 (3): 419-30 Nephropedia Template TP
gab.com Text
Twit Text FOAVip
Twit Text #
English Wikipedia
Voltage Sensing in Membranes: From Macroscopic Currents to Molecular Motions #MMPMID25972106
Freites JA; Tobias DJ
J Membr Biol 2015[Jun]; 248 (3): 419-30 PMID25972106show ga
Voltage-sensing domains (VSDs) are integral membrane protein units that sense changes in membrane electric potential, and through the resulting conformational changes, regulate a specific function. VSDs confer voltage-sensitivity to a large superfamily of membrane proteins that includes voltage-gated Na+, K+, Ca2+, and H+ selective channels, hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channels, and voltage-sensing phosphatases. VSDs consist of four transmembrane segments (termed S1 through S4). Their most salient structural feature is the highly conserved positions for charged residues in their sequences. S4 exhibits at least three conserved triplet repeats composed of one basic residue (mostly arginine) followed by two hydrophobic residues. These S4 basic side chains participate in a state-dependent internal salt-bridge network with at least four acidic residues in S1?S3. The signature of voltage-dependent activation in electrophysiology experiments is a transient current (termed gating or sensing current) upon a change in applied membrane potential as the basic side chains in S4 move across the membrane electric field. Thus, the unique structural features of the VSD architecture allow for competing requirements: maintaining a series of stable transmembrane conformations, while allowing charge motion, as briefly reviewed here.