Molecular Determinants within N Terminus of Orai3 Protein That Control Channel Activation and Gating

Abstract

STIM1 and Orai represent the key components of Ca2+ release-activated Ca2+ channels. Activation of Orai channels requires coupling of the C terminus of STIM1 to the N and C termini of Orai. Although the latter appears to be central in the interaction with STIM1, the role of the N terminus and particularly of the conserved region close to the first transmembrane sequence is less well understood. Here, we investigated in detail the functional role of this conserved region in Orai3 by stepwise deletions. Molecular determinants were mapped for the two modes of Orai3 activation via STIM1 or 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate (2-APB) and for current gating characteristics. Increasing N-terminal truncations revealed a progressive decrease of the specific fast inactivation of Orai3 concomitant with diminished binding to calmodulin. STIM1-dependent activation of Orai3 was maintained as long as the second half of this conserved N-terminal domain was present. Further truncations abolished it, whereas Orai3 stimulation via 2-APB was partially retained. In aggregate, the N-terminal conserved region plays a multifaceted role in Orai3 current gating with distinct structural requirements for STIM1- and 2-APB-stimulated activation.

Reversible Biofunctionalization of Surfaces with a Switchable Mutant of Avidin

“…24−26 One of these studies reports on repeated functionalization of the identical chip with different biotinylated peptides. 24 It was not clear, however, whether this method is also applicable to statistically biotinylated proteins; therefore, this important question was examined in the present study (see Results section).…”

Detailed Evidence for an Unparalleled Interaction Mode between Calmodulin and Orai Proteins

“…No binding of CaM was observed with truncated Orai3 lacking aa46-51 ( Figure S4 d), in line with the reported loss of CDI. [7] In the absence of Ca 2+ ,n o interaction of CaM was detected with any Orai peptide (open squares in Figure 1), indicating specific Ca 2+ -dependent binding. In order to rule out that two-step binding was induced by the statistical labeling of CaM, we measured the interaction between labeled CaM and the CMBD of smMLCK.…”

“…[1][2][3][4] Much less is known about the Ca 2+ -dependent inactivation (CDI) of Orai which is important in the regulation of the intracellular Ca 2+ level. In anumber of studies,calmodulin (CaM) was found to bind to ahighly conserved N-terminal segment of Orai1/3, and to act as an egative regulator of channel function, [5][6][7] although this was lately questioned.…”

“…[1][2][3][4] Much less is known about the Ca 2+ -dependent inactivation (CDI) of Orai which is important in the regulation of the intracellular Ca 2+ level. In anumber of studies,calmodulin (CaM) was found to bind to ahighly conserved N-terminal segment of Orai1/3, and to act as an egative regulator of channel function, [5][6][7] although this was lately questioned. [8] Thec rystal structure of the complex between CaM and the isolated CaM-binding segment of Orai1 (aa69-88) revealed an unusual extended conformation of CaM with only its C-terminal lobe binding one Orai1 peptide.…”

“…[1][2][3][4] Much less is known about the Ca 2+ -dependent inactivation (CDI) of Orai which is important in the regulation of the intracellular Ca 2+ level. In anumber of studies,calmodulin (CaM) was found to bind to ahighly conserved N-terminal segment of Orai1/3, and to act as an egative regulator of channel function, [5][6][7] although this was lately questioned.[8] Thec rystal structure of the complex between CaM and the isolated CaM-binding segment of Orai1 (aa69-88) revealed an unusual extended conformation of CaM with only its C-terminal lobe binding one Orai1 peptide.[9] Parallel pulldown and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) experiments suggested stepwise binding of two Orai1 69-88 peptides with different affinities,o ne on the Cterminal lobe of CaM (K d = 1.1 mm)a nd one on the Nterminal lobe (K d = 4.6 mm). Motivated by these findings,weaimed at acomprehensive characterization of this interaction mechanism, for the following reasons:( i) the measured K d values (1.1 and 4.6 mm)a re much higher than those usually reported for Ca 2+ -induced CaM binding (typically 10 À7 to 10 À11 m) [10] and were probably influenced by the high calmodulin concentration used in ITC,( ii)the transitions between monovalent and bivalent bond formation have not yet been addressed, and, most prominently,( iii)quantitative information about the kinetics of stepwise association and dissociation is still missing.…”