Insights into Intracellular Domains of Pentameric Ligand-Gated Ion Channels

Pentameric ligand-gated ion channels (pLGICs) are abundant players in fast chemical signal transduction both in and outside the nervous system. During recent years, EM and X-ray structures of prokaryotic homologues and more recently also of eukaryotic pLGICs have been published in several functional states. Despite these atomic-level insights pertaining to the extracellular and transmembrane domains that are highly conserved, the diverse intracellular domain remains enigmatic. Ion channel chimeras as well as further optimized soluble chimeras provide novel insights into the intracellular domain of this superfamily of ion channels.