Convergent Evolution of Sodium Ion Selectivity in Metazoan Neuronal Signaling

Overview

Journal Cell Rep

Publisher Cell Press

Specialties Biology
Cell Biology
Molecular Biology

Date 2012 Aug 3

PMID 22854023

Citations 33

Authors

Maya Gur Barzilai

Adam M Reitzel

Johanna E M Kraus

Dalia Gordon

Ulrich Technau

Michael Gurevitz

Yehu Moran

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Ion selectivity of metazoan voltage-gated Na(+) channels is critical for neuronal signaling and has long been attributed to a ring of four conserved amino acids that constitute the ion selectivity filter (SF) at the channel pore. Yet, in addition to channels with a preference for Ca(2+) ions, the expression and characterization of Na(+) channel homologs from the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, a member of the early-branching metazoan phylum Cnidaria, revealed a sodium-selective channel bearing a noncanonical SF. Mutagenesis and physiological assays suggest that pore elements additional to the SF determine the preference for Na(+) in this channel. Phylogenetic analysis assigns the Nematostella Na(+)-selective channel to a channel group unique to Cnidaria, which diverged >540 million years ago from Ca(2+)-conducting Na(+) channel homologs. The identification of Cnidarian Na(+)-selective ion channels distinct from the channels of bilaterian animals indicates that selectivity for Na(+) in neuronal signaling emerged independently in these two animal lineages.

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