Resensitizing AMPA receptors

Abstract

JGP study suggests how the regulatory protein γ8 reopens AMPA receptor channels in the continued presence of glutamate.

Left to right: Elisa Carrillo, Sana Shaikh, Vasanthi Jayaraman, and colleagues reveal that the regulatory protein γ8 resensitizes AMPA receptors in the continuous presence of glutamate by inducing a tighter conformational coupling between receptor subunits that is associated with a highly conductive, open state. Single molecule FRET histograms of desensitized receptors in the absence of γ8 (top) and resensitized receptors in the presence of γ8 (bottom) show that γ8 increases the FRET efficiency between the ligand-binding domains of neighboring receptor subunits, indicative of tighter conformational coupling.