Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 116, Issue 51, Pages 26008-26019Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1913929116
Keywords
TRPA1; agonist; binding; gating
Categories
Funding
- Genentech, Inc.
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the NIH [R01GM093290, S10OD020095]
- National Science Foundation [ACI-1614804, CNS-1625061, 1625061]
- US Army Research Laboratory [W911NF-16-2-0189]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) channel functions as an irritant sensor and is a therapeutic target for treating pain, itch, and respiratory diseases. As a ligand-gated channel, TRPA1 can be activated by electrophilic compounds such as allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) through covalent modification or activated by noncovalent agonists through ligand binding. However, how covalent modification leads to channel opening and, importantly, how noncovalent binding activates TRPA1 are not well-understood. Here we report a class of piperidine carboxamides (PIPCs) as potent, noncovalent agonists of human TRPA1. Based on their species-specific effects on human and rat channels, we identified residues critical for channel activation; we then generated binding modes for TRPA1-PIPC interactions using structural modeling, molecular docking, and mutational analysis. We show that PIPCs bind to a hydrophobic site located at the interface of the pore helix 1 (PH1) and S5 and S6 transmembrane segments. Interestingly, this binding site overlaps with that of known allosteric modulators, such as A-967079 and propofol. Similar binding sites, involving pi-helix rearrangements on S6, have been recently reported for other TRP channels, suggesting an evolutionarily conserved mechanism. Finally, we show that for PIPC analogs, predictions from computational modeling are consistent with experimental structure-activity studies, thereby suggesting strategies for rational drug design.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available