Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Medicine and Health Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Chemicals and Drugs

University of the Pacific

Ciona intestinalis

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences

Sensing Charges Of The Ciona Intestinalis Voltage-Sensing Phosphatase, Carlos A. Villalba-Galea, Ludivine Frezza, Walter Sandtner, Francisco Bezanilla Nov 2013

Sensing Charges Of The Ciona Intestinalis Voltage-Sensing Phosphatase, Carlos A. Villalba-Galea, Ludivine Frezza, Walter Sandtner, Francisco Bezanilla

School of Pharmacy Faculty Articles

Voltage control over enzymatic activity in voltage-sensitive phosphatases (VSPs) is conferred by a voltage-sensing domain (VSD) located in the N terminus. These VSDs are constituted by four putative transmembrane segments (S1 to S4) resembling those found in voltage-gated ion channels. The putative fourth segment (S4) of the VSD contains positive residues that likely function as voltage-sensing elements. To study in detail how these residues sense the plasma membrane potential, we have focused on five arginines in the S4 segment of the Ciona intestinalis VSP (Ci-VSP). After implementing a histidine scan, here we show that four arginine-to-histidine mutants, namely R223H to …


Controlling The Activity Of A Phosphatase And Tensin Homolog (Pten) By Membrane Potential, Jérôme J. Lacroix, Christian R. Halaszovich, Daniela N. Schreiber, Michael G. Leitner, Francisco Bezanilla, Dominik Oliver, Carlos A. Villalba-Galea May 2011

Controlling The Activity Of A Phosphatase And Tensin Homolog (Pten) By Membrane Potential, Jérôme J. Lacroix, Christian R. Halaszovich, Daniela N. Schreiber, Michael G. Leitner, Francisco Bezanilla, Dominik Oliver, Carlos A. Villalba-Galea

School of Pharmacy Faculty Articles

The recently discovered voltage-sensitive phosphatases (VSPs) hydrolyze phosphoinositides upon depolarization of the membrane potential, thus representing a novel principle for the transduction of electrical activity into biochemical signals. Here, we demonstrate the possibility to confer voltage sensitivity to cytosolic enzymes. By fusing the tumor suppressor PTEN to the voltage sensor of the prototypic VSP from Ciona intestinalis, Ci-VSP, we generated chimeric proteins that are voltage-sensitive and display PTEN-like enzymatic activity in a strictly depolarization-dependent manner in vivo. Functional coupling of the exogenous enzymatic activity to the voltage sensor is mediated by a phospholipid-binding motif at the interface between voltage sensor …