Bimane fluorescence scanning suggests secondary structure near the S3-S4 linker of BK channels

Gating of large conductance Ca(2+)-activated K(+) channels (BK or maxi-K channels) is controlled by a Ca(2+)-sensor, formed by the channel cytoplasmic C-terminal domain, and a voltage sensor, formed by its S0-S4 transmembrane helices. Here we analyze structural properties of a portion of the BK channel voltage sensing domain, the S3-S4 linker, using fluorescence lifetime spectroscopy. Single residues in the S3-S4 linker region were substituted with cysteine, and the cysteine-substituted mutants were expressed in CHO cells and covalently labeled with the sulfhydryl-reactive fluorophore monobromo-trimethylammonio-bimane (qBBr). qBBr fluorescence is quenched by tryptophan and, to a lesser extent, tyrosine side chains. We found that qBBr fluorescence in several of the labeled cysteine-substituted channels shows position-specific quenching, as indicated by increase of the brief lifetime component of the qBBr fluorescence decay. Quenching was reduced with the mutation W203F (in the S4 segment), suggesting that Trp-203 acts as a quenching group. Our results suggest a working hypothesis for the secondary structure of the BK channel S3-S4 region, and places residues Leu-204, Gly-205, and Leu-206 within the extracellular end of the S4 helix.