Structural Characterization of TRP Channels

Creative Bioarray is committed to providing clients with rich structural information about transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channels using a variety of techniques including EM, X-ray crystallography, and NMR spectroscopy. Our high-quality TRP channel structure characterization services will make an important contribution to your research on the gating mechanism and ion selectivity of TRP channels.

Introduction

TRP channels are channel proteins widely expressed in the peripheral and central nervous system, which regulate physiological and pathological functions and are responsible for various sensory responses, including heat, cold, pain, stress, vision and taste. To date, 28 mammalian TRP channels have been identified and divided into six subfamilies according to their amino acid sequence homology and functional relationship: TRPC(canonical), TRPM(melastatin), TRPV(vanilloid), TRPA(ankyrin), TRPP(polycastin) and TRPML(mucolipin).

Scientists have achieved the structure analysis of the TRPV1 in the closed and open states using a new cryo-electron microscopy technique, which has been reported, revealing the overall structure and ligand gating mechanism of TRPV1. In recent years, the structures of various TRP channels have been analyzed successively, such as TRPA1, TRPV2, TRPP2, etc. The structure analysis of TRP reveals the overall structure, gating mechanism, and structural basis of ion selectivity of different TRPs, which greatly enriches the understanding of the structure and mechanism of TRP, and provides data support for the development of related drugs.

Fig. 1 Determination of TRPV1 structures by single-particle cryo-EM. (Cao, 2020)

Our Services

There are large differences between TRP channel subfamilies, so a large amount of structural data is required. Our research team is committed to selecting the appropriate structure determination technology to provide clients with structural characterization services of TRP channels. The services we provide include but not limited to:

• Overall architecture analysis of TRP channels.
• Structural analysis of closed and open TRP channels.
• Analysis of conformational changes in TRP channels in the presence of agonists.
• Structure analysis of TRP channel domains, such as the ankyrin repeat domains (ARDs) of TRPVs and TRPM7 α-kinase domain.
• Analysis of ligand and lipid binding sites of TRP channels, including the vanilloid binding pocket, the outer pore region, pockets near the pore helix, and the cytoplasmic opening of the pore.
• Assembly analysis of TRP channels.

Our Techniques

According to the specific scientific research needs of our clients, we provide different methods to achieve different levels of resolution, helping them determine approximate molecular shapes or observe large domain movements and detect secondary structural elements. We mainly provide our clients with structural characterization services of TRP through the following three technologies:

• Electron microscopy, including cryoEM——observation of the overall shape of full-length TRP channels.
• X-ray crystallography——high-resolution structural observations of TRP channel fragments.
• NMR spectroscopy——obtaining details of TRP channel structure, function and dynamics.

Creative Bioarray focuses on the development of structural characterization techniques to help clients resolve the structure of various TRP channels and provide detailed image and data analysis. We are dedicated to the structural biology of TRP channels to help you elucidate the structural basis and gating mechanism of ion selectivity. If you are interested in our services, please contact us for more details.

Reference

1. Cao, E. Structural mechanisms of transient receptor potential ion channels. Journal of General Physiology, 2020, 152(3).