Dynamics of receptor activation by agonists.
- Resource Type
- Academic Journal
- Authors
- Auerbach A; Department of Physiology and Biophysics, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York. Electronic address: auerbach.anthony@gmail.com.
- Source
- Publisher: Cell Press Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 0370626 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1542-0086 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00063495 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Biophys J Subsets: MEDLINE
- Subject
- Language
- English
How do agonists turn on receptors? The model system we have used to address this question is the adult-type skeletal muscle nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. This ligand-gated ion channel has two orthosteric sites (for neurotransmitters) in the extracellular domain linked to an allosteric site (a gate) in the transmembrane domain. The goal of this perspective is to summarize how measurements of agonist binding energy reveal the dynamics of the neurotransmitter sites and the fundamental link between binding and gating.
Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The author declares no competing interests.
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