Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Subscribe

Sci. STKE, 1 April 2003
Vol. 2003, Issue 176, p. pl7
[DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.1762003pl7]

PROTOCOLS

Patch-Clamp Fluorometry Recording of Conformational Rearrangements of Ion Channels

Jie Zheng and William N. Zagotta*

Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Box 357290, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.

Abstract: Conformational rearrangements are commonly observed in membrane proteins and constitute the molecular mechanisms through which they contribute to signal transduction. Information on structural changes in membrane proteins has mostly been inferred from functional studies. Recently, site-specific fluorescence recordings have made it possible to directly observe such molecular events in real time within the membrane environment. Here, we describe the patch-clamp fluorometry (PCF) technique that records simultaneously the local structural changes and the functional states of ion channels in isolated cell membranes. Combined with fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), the technique should shed new light on ion channel activation, regulation, and interaction with other membrane proteins.

*Corresponding author. Telephone, 206-543-8076; fax, 206-543-0934; e-mail, zagotta{at}u.washington.edu

Citation: J. Zheng, W. N. Zagotta, Patch-Clamp Fluorometry Recording of Conformational Rearrangements of Ion Channels. Sci. STKE 2003, pl7 (2003).

Read the Full Text

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Differential Regulation by Cyclic Nucleotides of the CNGA4 and CNGB1b Subunits in Olfactory Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Channels.
V. Nache, T. Zimmer, N. Wongsamitkul, R. Schmauder, J. Kusch, L. Reinhardt, W. Bonigk, R. Seifert, C. Biskup, F. Schwede, et al. (2012)
Science Signaling 5, ra48
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »

To Advertise     Find Products

Science Signaling. ISSN 1937-9145 (online), 1945-0877 (print). Pre-2008: Science's STKE. ISSN 1525-8882