Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 14, 2025
Mapping Inhibitory Neuronal Circuits by Laser Scanning Photostimulation
Published on: October 6, 2011
The quest to map STIM1 activation in granular detail
1La Jolla Institute for Immunology, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA; Moores Cancer Center, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA; Program in Immunology, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
None:
The conformational change in STIM1 that communicates sensing of ER calcium-store depletion from the STIM ER-luminal domain to the STIM cytoplasmic region and ultimately to ORAI channels in the plasma membrane is broadly understood. However, the structural basis for the STIM luminal-domain dimerization that drives the conformational change has proven elusive. A recently published study has approached this question via molecular dynamics simulations. The report pinpoints STIM residues that may be part of a luminal-domain dimerization interface, and provides unexpected insight into how torsional movements of the STIM luminal domains might trigger release of the cytoplasmic SOAR/CAD domain from its resting tethers to the STIM CC1 segments.
