Journal
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
Volume 1, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/srep00069
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Ministry of Science and Technology of Argentina (MINCyT)
- Scientific Research Council of Argentina (CONICET)
- Philip Morris USA Inc.
- Philip Morris International
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Cholesterol influences ion-channel function, distribution and clustering in the membrane, endocytosis, and exocytic sorting of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR). We report the occurrence of a cholesterol recognition motif, here coined CARC'', in the transmembrane regions of AChR subunits that bear extensive contact with the surrounding lipid, and are thus optimally suited to convey cholesterol-mediated signaling from the latter. Three cholesterol molecules could be docked on the transmembrane segments of each AChR subunit, rendering a total of 15 cholesterol molecules per AChR molecule. The CARC motifs contribute each with an energy of interaction between 35 and 52 kJ.mol(-1), adding up to a total of about 200 kJ.mol(-1) per receptor molecule, i.e. 40% of the lipid solvation free energy/ AChR molecule. The CARC motif is remarkably conserved along the phylogenetic scale, from prokaryotes to human, suggesting that it could be responsible for some of the above structural/functional properties of the AChR.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available