Leisle L, Lam K, Dehghani-Ghahnaviyeh S, Fortea E, Galpin JD, Ahern CA, Tajkhorshid E, Accardi A. Backbone amides are determinants of Cl(-) selectivity in CLC ion channels.
Nat Commun 2022;
13:7508. [PMID:
36473856 DOI:
10.1038/s41467-022-35279-1]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2022] [Accepted: 11/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Chloride homeostasis is regulated in all cellular compartments. CLC-type channels selectively transport Cl- across biological membranes. It is proposed that side-chains of pore-lining residues determine Cl- selectivity in CLC-type channels, but their spatial orientation and contributions to selectivity are not conserved. This suggests a possible role for mainchain amides in selectivity. We use nonsense suppression to insert α-hydroxy acids at pore-lining positions in two CLC-type channels, CLC-0 and bCLC-k, thus exchanging peptide-bond amides with ester-bond oxygens which are incapable of hydrogen-bonding. Backbone substitutions functionally degrade inter-anion discrimination in a site-specific manner. The presence of a pore-occupying glutamate side chain modulates these effects. Molecular dynamics simulations show backbone amides determine ion energetics within the bCLC-k pore and how insertion of an α-hydroxy acid alters selectivity. We propose that backbone-ion interactions are determinants of Cl- specificity in CLC channels in a mechanism reminiscent of that described for K+ channels.
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