K. Yoshimura et al., Hydrophilicity of a single residue within MscL correlates with increased channel mechanosensitivity, BIOPHYS J, 77(4), 1999, pp. 1960-1972
Mechanosensitive channel large (MscL) encodes the large conductance mechano
sensitive channel of the Escherichia coil inner membrane that protects bact
eria from lysis upon osmotic shock. To elucidate the molecular mechanism of
MscL gating, we have comprehensively substituted Gly(22) with all other co
mmon amino acids. Gly(22) was highlighted in random mutagenesis screens of
E. coli MscL (Ou et al., 1998, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA. 95:11471-11475).
By analogy to the recently published MscL structure from Mycobacterium tube
rculosis (Chang et al., 1998, Science. 282:2220-2226), Gly(22) is buried wi
thin the constriction that closes the pore. Substituting Gly(22) With hydro
philic residues decreased the threshold pressure at which channels opened a
nd uncovered an intermediate subconducting state. In contrast, hydrophobic
substitutions increased the threshold pressure. Although hydrophobic substi
tutions had no effect on growth, similar to the effect of an MscL deletion,
channel hyperactivity caused by hydrophilic substitutions corrrelated with
decreased proliferation. These results suggest a model for gating in which
Gly(22) moves from a hydrophobic, and through a hydrophilic, environmment
upon transition from the closed to open conformation.