Referenced in: none

Automatically associated channels: ClC4

Title: Projection structure of a ClC-type chloride channel at 6.5 A resolution.

Authors: J A Mindell, M Maduke, C Miller, N Grigorieff

Journal, date & volume: Nature, 2001 Jan 11 , 409, 219-23

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11196649

Abstract
Virtually all cells in all eukaryotic organisms express ion channels of the ClC type, the only known molecular family of chloride-ion-selective channels. The diversity of ClC channels highlights the multitude and range of functions served by gated chloride-ion conduction in biological membranes, such as controlling electrical excitability in skeletal muscle, maintaining systemic blood pressure, acidifying endosomal compartments, and regulating electrical responses of GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)-containing interneurons in the central nervous system. Previously, we expressed and purified a prokaryotic ClC channel homologue. Here we report the formation of two-dimensional crystals of this ClC channel protein reconstituted into phospholipid bilayer membranes. Cryo-electron microscopic analysis of these crystals yields a projection structure at 6.5 A resolution, which shows off-axis water-filled pores within the dimeric channel complex.