Short Communication

The activity of the TRP-like channel depends on its expression system

Volume 6, Issue 2   March/April 2012
Pages 86 - 93
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/chan.19946
Keywords: TRP channels, constitutive activity, gating mechanism, membrane lipids
Authors: Shaya Lev, Ben Katz and Baruch Minke

View affiliations

Abstract:
The Drosophila light activated TRP and TRPL channels have been a model for TRPC channel gating. Several gating mechanisms have been proposed following experiments conducted on photoreceptor and tissue cultured cells. However, conclusive evidence for any mechanism is still lacking. Here, we show that the Drosophila TRPL channel expressed in tissue cultured cells is constitutively active in S2 cells but is silent in HEK cells. Modulations of TRPL channel activity in different expression system by pharmacology or specific enzymes, which change the lipid content of the plasma membrane, resulted in conflicting effects. These findings demonstrate the difficulty in elucidating TRPC gating, as channel behavior is expression system dependent. However, clues on the gating mechanism may arise from understanding how different expression systems affect TRPC channel activation.

Received: February 21, 2012; Accepted: March 8, 2012

Preview:



Advertisements