Indole and other aromatic compounds activate the yeast TRPY1 channel

John Haynes, W.; Zhou, Xin-Liang; Su, Zhen-Wei; Loukin, Stephen H.; Saimi, Yoshiro; Kung, Ching

doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2008.03.046

« Previous Next »FEBS Letters
Volume 582, Issue 10 , Pages 1514-1518, 30 April 2008

Indole and other aromatic compounds activate the yeast TRPY1 channel

Edited by Maurice Montal

W. John Haynes
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1525 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, United States
- These authors contributed equally.
Xin-Liang Zhou
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1525 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, United States
- These authors contributed equally.
Zhen-Wei Su
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1525 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, United States
- These authors contributed equally.
Stephen H. Loukin
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1525 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, United States
Yoshiro Saimi
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1525 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, United States
- Corresponding authors. Address: Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1525 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, United States. Fax: +1 608 262 4570.
Ching Kung
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1525 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, United States
- Department of Genetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, United States
- Corresponding authors. Address: Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1525 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, United States. Fax: +1 608 262 4570.

Received 27 February 2008; received in revised form 24 March 2008; accepted 25 March 2008. published online 07 April 2008.

Abstract

The yeast TRPY1 (Yvc1p) channel is activated by membrane stretch to release vacuolar Ca²⁺ into the cytoplasm upon osmotic upshock. Exogenously added indole greatly enhances the upshock-induced Ca²⁺ release in vivo. Indole also reversibly activates the channels under patch clamp. A minimum of 10⁻⁶M Ca²⁺ is needed for membrane stretch force to open TPRY1, but indole activation appears to be Ca²⁺ independent. A deletion of 30 residues at the predicted cytoplasmic domain, 570–600Δ, renders TRPY1 insensitive to stretch force upto 10⁻³M Ca²⁺. Nonetheless, indole readily activates this mutant channel. Several other aromatic compounds, e.g. the antimicrobial parabens, also activate TRPY1. These compounds likely alter the innate forces in the lipid bilayer received by the channel.