Arachidonic acid effect on the allosteric gating mechanism of BK (Slo1) channels associated with the β1 subunit

Arachidonic acid (AA) is a fatty acid involved in the modulation of several ion channels. Previously, we reported that AA activates the high conductance Ca2+- and voltage-dependent K+ channel (BK) in vascular smooth muscle depending on the expression of the auxiliary β1 subunit. Here, using the patc...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Martín, Pedro, Moncada, Melisa, Castillo, Karen, Orsi, Federico, Ducca, Gerónimo, Fernández-Fernández, José Manuel, 1967-, González, Carlos, Milesi, Verónica
Format: article
Status:Versión aceptada para publicación
Publication Date:2021
Country:España
Institution:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repository:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/52379
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/52379
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamem.2021.183550
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Arachidonic acid
Big conductance calcium and voltage activated potassium channel
BK
Fatty acid
MaxiK
Slo1
Voltage sensor
β-Auxiliary subunits
Description
Summary:Arachidonic acid (AA) is a fatty acid involved in the modulation of several ion channels. Previously, we reported that AA activates the high conductance Ca2+- and voltage-dependent K+ channel (BK) in vascular smooth muscle depending on the expression of the auxiliary β1 subunit. Here, using the patch-clamp technique on BK channel co-expressed with β1 subunit in a heterologous cell expression system, we analyzed whether AA modifies the three functional modules involved in the channel gating: the voltage sensor domain (VSD), the pore domain (PD), and the intracellular calcium sensor domain (CSD). We present evidence that AA activates BK channel in a direct way, inducing VSD stabilization on its active configuration observed as a significant left shift in the Q-V curve obtained from gating currents recordings. Moreover, AA facilitates the channel opening transitions when VSD are at rest, and the CSD are unoccupied. Furthermore, the activation was independent of the intracellular Ca2+ concentration and reduced when the BK channel was co-expressed with the Y74A mutant of the β1 subunit. These results allow us to present new insigths in the mechanism by which AA modulates BK channels co-expressed with its auxiliary β1 subunit.