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Structural pharmacology and gating mechanism of the native Torpedo acetylcholine receptor.


EMSL Project ID
51574

Abstract

Our lab is focused on structural biology of ligand-gated ion channels; this project focuses specifically on high resolution structures of the native nicotinic acetylcholine receptor from the electric organ of the Torpedo ray. This acetylcholine receptor is analogous to that found at the human neuromuscular junction, and has served as a model system for ligand-gated ion channels for over half a century. It comprises two ? subunits, one ?, one ? and one ? subunit. Recently, we published the first high-resolution cryo-EM structures of Torpedo nicotinic receptor in complex with a peptide antagonist, ?-bungarotoxin (Rahman et al., 2020, Neuron), from data collected at the PNCC. Here we expand to a new project building off this first Torpedo receptor structure. We propose four aims spanning fundamental structural pharmacology and ion channel gating mechanisms.

Project Details

Start Date
2020-07-15
End Date
2021-03-17
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Ryan Hibbs
Institution
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Team Members

Umang Goswami
Institution
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

MD Rahman
Institution
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center