Heteromultimerization of Prokaryotic Bacterial Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated (bCNG) Ion Channels, Members of the Mechanosensitive Channel of Small Conductance (MscS) Superfamily

Abstract

Traditionally, prokaryotic channels are thought to exist as homomultimeric assemblies, while many eukaryotic ion channels form complex heteromultimers. Here we demonstrate that bacterial cyclic nucleotide-gated channels likely form heteromultimers in vivo. Heteromultimer formation is indicated through channel modeling, pull-down assays, and real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis. Our observations demonstrate that prokaryotic ion channels can display complex behavior and regulation akin to that of their eukaryotic counterparts.

Novel MscL agonists that allow multiple antibiotics cytoplasmic access activate the channel through a common binding site

“…Both appear to directly sense tension in the membrane [7,8]. MscS channels and its homologues are more sensitive, open a smaller pore, may be more regulated [9,10] and appear to lead to a more controlled efflux; a single bacterial species may have more than one homologue expressed. On the other hand, the majority of bacteria, including most pathogens, contain a single copy of mscL, which is highly conserved between species (see [11] for more discussion and sequence alignment).…”