Extracellular blockade of K+ channels by TEA: Results from molecular dynamics simulations of the KcsA channel

TEA is a classical blocker of K+ channels. From mutagenesis studies, it has been shown that external blockade by TEA is strongly dependent upon the pr esence of aromatic residue at Shaker position 449 which is located near the extracellular entrance to the pore (Heginbotham, L., and R. MacKinnon. 199 2. Neuron. 8:483-491). The data suggest that TEA interacts simultaneously-w ith the aromatic residues of the four monomers. The determination of the 3- D structure of the KcsA channel using X-ray crystallography (Doyle, D.A. JM . Cabral, R.A. Pfuetzner, A. Kuo, J.M. Gulbis, S,L. Cohen, B.T. Chait, and R. Mackinnon. 1998. Science. 280:69-77) has raised some issues that remain currently unresolved concerning the interpretation of these observations. I n particular, the center of the Tyr82 side chains in KcsA (corresponding to position 449 in Shaker) forms a square of 11.8-Angstrom side, a distance w hich is too large to allow simultaneous interactions of a TEA molecule with the four aromatic side chains. In this paper, the external blockade by TEA is explored by molecular dynamics simulations of ail atomic model of KcsA in an explicit phospholipid bilayer with aqueous salt solution. It is obser ved, in qualitative accord with the experimental results, that TEA is stabl e when bound to the external side of the wild-type Kcs-A channel (with Tyr8 2), but is unstable when bound to a mutant channel in which the tyrosine re sidue has been substituted by a threonine. The free energy profile of TEA r elative to the pore is calculated rising umbrella sampling simulations to c haracterize quantitatively the extracellular blockade. It is found, in rema rkable agreement with the experiment, that the TEA is more stably bound by 2.3 kcal/mol to the channel with four tyrosine residues. In the case of the wild-type KcsA channel, TLX (which has the shape of a flattened oblate sph eroid) acts as an ideal plug blocking the pore. fit contrast, it is conside rably more off-centered and tilted in the case of the mutant channel. The e nhanced stability conferred by the tyrosine residues does not arise from II -cation interactions, but appears to be due to differences in the hydration ' structure of the TEA. Finally, it is shown that the experimentally observ ed voltage dependence of TEA block, which is traditionally interpreted in t erms of the physical position of the TEA along the axis of the pore, Must a rise indirectly via coupling with the ions in the pore.