The receptors of the cys-loop superfamily are made of five homologous subunits. Each subunit contains an extra-cellular amino-terminal domain, followed by four transmembrane segments. The loop located between TM3 and TM4 composes the intracellular domain, of variable length. The subunits of the cys-loop superfamily are distributed in two clear monophyletic groups, one containing the subunits forming anionic channels (GABAA and GABAC, Glycine, GLUCl, Histamine and 5HTmod1 receptors), and one containing the subunits forming cationic channels (5-HT3 and nicotinic receptors). Although site directed mutagenesis in the channel part succeded to invert selectivity, no example transgressing the frontier are know in nature. (If you are aware of one, please tell me!)

Available Sequences

• Ordered by LGICdb ID

• Ordered by species

Phylogenetic Studies

• Anionic receptor subunits (with hyperlinks)
    Last generation: October 13^rd 2000.

• Cationic receptor subunits
    Last generation: May 22^th 2001.
    Original article available in HTML and in postscript.

Bibliography

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Bormann, J., Feigenspan A. (1995). GABA_C receptors. Trends Neurosci 18 : 515-519.

Colquhoun D, Sivilotti LG. (2004). Function and structure in glycine receptors and some of their relatives. Trends Neurosci. 27: 6337-6344.

Corringer P.J. , Le Novère N., Changeux J.P. (2000). Nicotinic Receptors at the Amino Acid Level. Annual Reviews of Pharmacology and Toxicology 40: 431-458.

Galzi J.-L., Changeux J.-P. (1994). Neurotransmitter-gated ion channels as unconventional allosteric proteins. Curr Op Struct Biol 4 :554-565

Hevers W., Lüddens H. (1998). The diversity of GABA_A receptors. Mol Neurobiol 18 : 35-86.

Jones AK, Sattelle DB. (2004). Functional genomics of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor gene family of the nematode, Cænorhabditis elegans. Bioessays 26: 39-49.

Le Novère N., Changeux J.-P. (1995). Molecular evolution of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit family : an example of multig ene family in excitable cells. J Mol Evol 40 : 155-172.

Ortells M.O., Lunt G.G. (1995). Evolutionary history of the ligand-gated ion-channel superfamily of receptors. Trends Neurosci 18 :1 21-126.

Last modification: Wed Nov 24 10:59:05 GMT 2004 | Nicolas Le Novère