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Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Dissection of Local Ca2+ Signals in Cultured Cells by Membrane-targeted Ca2+ Indicators
Published on: March 22, 2019
Transfer of beta subunit regulation from high to low voltage-gated Ca2+ channels
Juan Manuel Arias1, Janet Murbartián, Iuliia Vitko
1Department of Pharmacology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA.
Abstract:
High voltage-activated Ca(2+) channel expression and gating is controlled by their beta subunits. Although the sites of interaction are known at the atomic level, how beta modulates gating remains to be determined. Using a chimeric approach, beta subunit regulation was conferred to a low voltage-activated channel. Regulation was dependent on a rigid linker connecting the alpha(1) interaction domain to IS6. Chimeric channels also revealed a role for IS6 in channel gating. Taken together, these results support a direct coupling model where beta subunits alter movements in IS6 that occur as the channel transits between closed, open, and inactivated states.
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