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The tension-transmitting 'clutch' in the mechanosensitive channel MscS

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 17, pages 451–458 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Under prolonged stimulation, the mechanosensitive channel MscS of Escherichia coli enters a tension-insensitive inactivated state. We transformed the delipidated crystal structure and restored the link between lipid-facing TM1 and TM2 and gate-forming TM3 helices. Joining the conserved Phe68 of TM2 with Leu111 of TM1, this buried contact mediated opening in steered molecular dynamics simulations with forces applied to the peripheral helices. Both F68S and L111S substitutions produced severe loss-of-function phenotypes in vivo by increasing the inactivation rate and promoting unusual 'silent' inactivation from the resting state. F68S also suppressed the noninactivating phenotype of G113A. The L111C cysteine buried in the TM2-TM3 crevice was accessible to methanethiosulfonate-ethyltrimethylammonium (MTSET) only in the inactivated state, which was stabilized upon modification by a positive charge. The restored interhelical contact thus is critically involved in force transmission from the lipid-facing helices to the gate, and inactivation appears to be a result of TM2-TM3 uncoupling.

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Figure 1: Transformation of the crystal structure by aligning the TM1-TM2 pairs of helices with TM3s and closing the TM2-TM3 crevice.
Figure 2: Side chains lining the crevice.
Figure 3: Effects of critical serine substitutions on population currents invoked in patch-clamp experiments by 0.5-s saturating test pulses (left) (10-ms raise time), 1-s ramps to the same saturating pressure (middle) and prolonged (30-s) subthreshold steps of pressure followed by a saturating test pulse (right).
Figure 4: The F68S and L111S substitutions slow down the process of recovery from inactivation.
Figure 5: The F68S mutation suppresses the noninactivating phenotype of G113A.
Figure 6: The F68C and L111C sites are accessible to MTS reagents, and their modifications alter tension sensitivity, propensity for inactivation and the process of recovery.
Figure 7: Steered simulations of WT and F68S MscS between the closed and open conformations.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank M. Kiyatkin for compiling a library of MscS and MscK homologs and conducting the multiple sequence alignments, M. Boer for editing the text and I. Booth (Univ. of Aberdeen) and P. Blount (Univ. of Texas, Dallas) for kindly providing the MJF465 and PB113 strains, respectively. This work was supported by the US National Institutes of Health and an undergraduate research grant to V.B. from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

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  1. Department of Biology, University of Maryland College Park, College Park, Maryland, USA

    Vladislav Belyy, Andriy Anishkin, Kishore Kamaraju, Naili Liu & Sergei Sukharev

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  1. Vladislav Belyy
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Contributions

V.B., A.A., K.K. and S.S. designed the experiments and analyzed the models and data; V.B. and K.K. conducted all of the patch-clamp experiments and generated some of the MscS mutants; A.A. performed all of the computations (extrapolated motion analysis and molecular dynamics simulations); N.L. generated all MscS mutants and prepared spheroplasts; V.B., A.A. and S.S. wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Sergei Sukharev.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Text and Figures

Supplementary Figures 1–7 and Supplementary Discussion (PDF 593 kb)

Supplementary Video 1

Simulated MscS opening (AVI 10111 kb)

Supplementary Data 1

MscS alignment, gap-free (TXT 36 kb)

Supplementary Data 2

MscS alignment, 86 Gram-negative species (TXT 28 kb)

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Belyy, V., Anishkin, A., Kamaraju, K. et al. The tension-transmitting 'clutch' in the mechanosensitive channel MscS. Nat Struct Mol Biol 17, 451–458 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.1775

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