Co-expression of wild-type and mutant olafctory cyclic nucleotide-gated channels: restoration of the native sensitivity to Ca2+ and Mg2+ blockage

In the pore of homomeric cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) channels, Ca(2+) and Mg(2+) bind to a set of glutamate residues, which in the bovine olfactory CNG channel are located at position 340. However, native CNG channels from olfactory sensory neurons are composed by the assembly of three different types of subunits, each having a different residue -- glutamate, aspartate or glycine -- at the position corresponding to the binding site for external Ca(2+) and Mg(2+). We co-expressed the wild-type principal alpha subunit with its mutants E340G and E340D in different combinations in Xenopus laevis oocytes, and measured Ca(2+) and Mg(2+) blockage in excised outside-out membrane patches. The comparison between our results and data from native olfactory CNG channels indicates that the presence of all three residues -- glutamate, aspartate and glycine -- in the different subunits, is necessary to restore the sensitivity to external Ca(2+) and Mg(2+) measured in native channels.