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  2. GABArho 1/GABAAalpha 1 receptor chimeras to study receptor desensitization

GABArho 1/GABAAalpha 1 receptor chimeras to study receptor desensitization

  • Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000 Mar 28;97(7):3562-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.97.7.3562.
A Martínez-Torres 1 A Demuro R Miledi
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
Abstract

gamma-Aminobutyrate type C (GABA(C)) receptors are ligand-gated ion channels that are expressed preponderantly in the vertebrate retina and are characterized, among other things, by a very low rate of desensitization and resistance to the specific GABA(A) antagonist bicuculline. To examine which structural elements determine the nondesensitizing character of the human homomeric rho1 receptor, we used a combination of gene chimeras and electrophysiology of receptors expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Two chimeric genes were constructed, made up of portions of the rho1-subunit and of the alpha1-subunit of the GABA(A) receptor. When expressed in Xenopus oocytes, one chimeric gene (rho1/alpha1) formed functional homooligomeric receptors that were fully resistant to bicuculline and were blocked by the specific GABA(C) antagonist (1,2,5, 6-tetrahydropyridine-4-yl)methylphosphinic acid and by zinc. Moreover, these chimeric receptors had a fast-desensitizing component, even faster than that of heterooligomeric GABA(A) receptors, in striking contrast to the almost nil desensitization of wild-type rho1 (wt rho1) receptors. To see whether the fast-desensitizing characteristic of the chimera was determined by the Amino acids forming the ion channels, we replaced the second transmembrane segment (TM2) of rho1 by that of the alpha1-subunit of GABA(A). Although the alpha1-subunit forms fast-desensitizing receptors when coexpressed with other GABA(A) subunits, the sole transfer of the alpha1TM2 segment to rho1 was not sufficient to form desensitizing receptors. All this suggests that the slow-desensitizing trait of rho1 receptors is determined by a combination of several interacting domains along the molecule.

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