Evolutionary Origin of Electrical Excitability

Hille, Bertil

doi:10.1007/978-1-4757-9610-0_47

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…This topic has been studied in detail by Hille (1984Hille ( , 1988Hille ( , 1989. He suggested that mechanosensitivestretch-receptor-activated channels were present in prokaryotes over 1500 million years ago.…”

Section: Evolution Of Ion Channelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary aspects of transmitter molecules, their receptors and channels

Walker

Holden‐Dye

1991

Parasitology

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Classical transmitters are present in all phyla that have been studied; however, our detailed understanding of the process of neurotransmission in these phyla is patchy and has centred on those neurotransmitter receptor mechanisms which are amenable to study with the tools available at the time, for example, high-affinity ligands, tissues with high density of receptor protein, suitable electrophysiological recording systems. Studies also clearly show that many neurones exhibit co-localization of classical transmitters and neuropeptides. However, the physiological implications of this co-localization have yet to be elucidated in the vast majority of examples. The application of molecular biological techniques to the study of neurotransmitter receptors (to date mainly in vertebrates) is contributing to our understanding of the evolution of these proteins. Striking similarities in the structure of ligand-gated receptors have been revealed. Thus, although ligand-gated receptors differ markedly in terms of the endogenous ligands they recognize and the ion channels that they gate, the structural similarities suggest a strong evolutionary relationship. Pharmacological differences also exist between receptors that recognize the same neurotransmitter but in different phyla, and this may also be exploited to further the understanding of structure-function relationships for receptors. Thus, for instance, some invertebrate GABA receptors are similar to mammalian GABAA receptors but lack a modulatory site operated by benzodiazepines. Knowledge of the structure and subunit composition of these receptors and comparison with those that have already been elucidated for the mammalian nervous system might indicate the functional importance of certain amino acid residues or receptor subunits. These differences could also be exploited in the development of new agents to control agrochemical pests and parasites of medical importance. The study of the pharmacology of receptor proteins for neurotransmitters in invertebrates, together with the application of biochemical and molecular biological techniques to elucidate the structure of these molecules, is now gathering momentum. For certain receptors, e.g. the nicotinic receptor, we can expect to have fundamental information on the function of this receptor at the molecular level in both invertebrates and vertebrates in the near future.

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Section: Evolution Of Ion Channelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary aspects of transmitter molecules, their receptors and channels

Walker

Holden‐Dye

1991

Parasitology

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“…Figure 2 outlines possible evolutionary relationships of several channels (Hille, 1984(Hille, , 1988. It shows mechanosensitive channels predating even the eukaryotes (Martinac, Buechner, Delcour, Adler & Kung, 1987), two voltage-gated channel types originating with the stem eukaryotes, and agonist-gated channels as well as voltage-gated Na channels originating with the earliest metazoan animals.…”

Section: Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The evolutionary picture is easily rationalized (Hille, 1988). The development of K and Ca channels by stem eukaryotes contributed to the characteristically eukaryotic ability to use intracellular free calcium as a signalling mechanism.…”

Section: Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ionic Channels: Evolutionary Origins and Modern Roles

Hille

1989

Exp Physiol

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“…The Na + and Ca 2+ channels contain four homologous domains, whereas the K + and cyclic nucleotidegated channels consist of tetramers of single-domain subunits. It is generally believed that Na + and Ca 2+ channels evolved from the single-domain K + channels (Hille, 1987(Hille, , 1988. The proposed scenario is that Ca 2+ channels evolved from the K + channels during the evolution of the stem eukaryotes (Hille, 1989).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Voltage-Gated Calcium-Selective Channel Encoded by a Sodium Channel-like Gene

Zhou

Chung

Liu

et al. 2004

Neuron

108

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BSC1, which was originally identified by its sequence similarity to voltage-gated Na(+) channels, encodes a functional voltage-gated cation channel whose properties differ significantly from Na(+) channels. BSC1 has slower kinetics of activation and inactivation than Na(+) channels, it is more selective for Ba(2+) than for Na(+), it is blocked by Cd(2+), and Na(+) currents through BSC1 are blocked by low concentrations of Ca(2+). All of these properties are more similar to voltage-gated Ca(2+) channels than to voltage-gated Na(+) channels. The selectivity for Ba(2+) is partially due to the presence of a glutamate in the pore-forming region of domain III, since replacing that residue with lysine (normally present in voltage-gated Na(+) channels) makes the channel more selective for Na(+). BSC1 appears to be the prototype of a novel family of invertebrate voltage-dependent cation channels with a close structural and evolutionary relationship to voltage-gated Na(+) and Ca(2+) channels.

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Evolutionary Origin of Electrical Excitability

Cited by 7 publications

References 8 publications

Evolutionary aspects of transmitter molecules, their receptors and channels

Evolutionary aspects of transmitter molecules, their receptors and channels

Ionic Channels: Evolutionary Origins and Modern Roles

A Voltage-Gated Calcium-Selective Channel Encoded by a Sodium Channel-like Gene

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