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High-resolution structure of the open NaK channel

Abstract

We report the crystal structure of the nonselective cation channel NaK from Bacillus cereus at a resolution of 1.6 Å. The structure reveals the intracellular gate in an open state, as opposed to the closed form reported previously, making NaK the only channel for which the three-dimensional structures of both conformations are known. Channel opening follows a conserved mechanism of inner helix bending using a flexible glycine residue, the gating hinge, seen in MthK and most other tetrameric cation channels. Additionally, distinct inter and intrasubunit rearrangements involved in channel gating are seen and characterized for the first time along with inner helix twisting motions. Furthermore, we identify a residue deeper within the cavity of the channel pore, Phe92, which is likely to form a constriction point within the open pore, restricting ion flux through the channel. Mutating this residue to alanine causes a subsequent increase in ion-conduction rates as measured by 86Rb flux assays. The structures of both the open and closed conformations of the NaK channel correlate well with those of equivalent K+ channel conformations, namely MthK and KcsA, respectively.

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Figure 1: Structure of NaKNΔ19 in an open conformation.
Figure 2: Analysis of inter and intrasubunit interactions in the closed (a) and open (b) structures of the NaK channel.
Figure 3: Effect of the size of the ion-conduction pathway size on ion conduction in NaK.

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Acknowledgements

Use of the Argonne National Laboratory Structural Biology Center beamlines at the Advanced Photon Source was supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Energy Research. We thank the beamline staff for assistance in data collection. This work was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and by grants from the the US National Institutes of Health and National Institute of General Medical Sciences (RO1 GM079179), the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the McKnight Endowment for Neuroscience. A.A. was supported by National Institutes of Health Training Grant T32 GM008297.

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A.A. performed the research; A.A and Y.J designed the research, analyzed data and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Youxing Jiang.

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Alam, A., Jiang, Y. High-resolution structure of the open NaK channel. Nat Struct Mol Biol 16, 30–34 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.1531

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