A molecular dynamics study of an L-type calcium channel model

Protein Eng. 2002 Feb;15(2):109-22. doi: 10.1093/protein/15.2.109.

Abstract

In this work, we propose a molecular model of the L-type calcium channel pore from the human cardiac alpha1 subunit. Four glutamic acid residues, the EEEE locus, located at highly conserved P loops (also called SS1-SS2 segments) of the alpha1 subunit, molecularly express the calcium channel selectivity. The proposed alpha-helix structure for the SS1 segment, analyzed through molecular dynamics simulations in aqueous-phase, was validated by the plotting of Ramachandran diagrams for the averaged structures and by the analysis of i and i + 4 helical hydrogen bonding between the amino acid residues. The results of the simulation of the calcium channel model with one and two Ca2+ ions at the binding site are in accordance with mutation studies which suggest that the EEEE locus in the L-type calcium channel must form a single high-affinity binding site. These results suggest that the Ca2+ permeation through the channel would be derived from competition between two ions for the only high-affinity binding site. Furthermore, the experimentally observed blocking of the Na+ flux at micromolar Ca2+ concentrations, probably due to the occupancy of the single high-affinity binding site for one Ca2+, was also reproduced by our model.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Calcium / physiology
  • Calcium Channels, L-Type / chemistry*
  • Calcium Channels, L-Type / physiology
  • Humans
  • Ion Channel Gating / physiology
  • Models, Chemical*
  • Models, Molecular*
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Protein Structure, Secondary
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid

Substances

  • Calcium Channels, L-Type
  • Calcium