Voltage Dependence of the Cation-Nonselective TRP Channels
Abstract
Named for the transient receptor potential
channels in Drosophila visual transduction, TRP
channels are ubiquitously expressed in virtually all
animals.
•TRPs are classified into three subtypes based on
sequence homology: short, long, and osm-9-like
•TRP proteins assemble into tetrameric cation
channels
•Activated by the phospholipase C pathway
associated with metabotropic receptors
•May be gated by depletion of intracellular Ca2+
stores or DAG
•Heteromultimeric channels may contribute to the
electrophysiological properties and activation
mechanism of TRPs
•We studied currents from HEK293 cells
expressing both human TRP1 and murine TRP4 to
determine the effect of heteromer formation.We
were hoping to understand how heteromer
formation affects the voltage dependence of TRP
channels, regardless of a dependence on Ca2+ for
activation