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- All Subjects: Ion Channel
- Creators: Van Horn, Wade
Description
Transient Receptor Potential Melastatin 8 (TRPM8) is a non-selective cation channel notable as a primary cold sensor in humans. It is also involved in a variety of (patho)physiological events including pain sensation, chronic cough, diabetes, obesity, and cancer. TRPM8 is modulated by a variety of stimuli including pH, temperature, cooling agents, voltage, lipid, and other proteins. However, the molecular mechanism underlining its function has not yet clear raising the need for isolated proteins to be well-characterized. Over 20 years, E. coli has been a heterologous expression system of interest due to its low cost and high yield. However, the lack of post-translational modifications and chaperone may cause a misfolding or affect protein function. Mammalian expression system addresses these drawbacks and is a good candidate for the functional study of complex human protein. Here I describe my research in optimizing the transfection, expression, and purification of the human TRPM8 from adherent Human Embryonic Kidney (HEK293) cells which can be used for small-scale studies including, but not limited to, planar lipid bilayer electrophysiology.
ContributorsNguyen, Hoang Phuong My (Author) / Van Horn, Wade (Thesis director) / Wang, Xu (Committee member) / Hilton, Jacob (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are a superfamily of ion channels found in plasma membranes of both single-celled and multicellular organisms. TRP channels all share the common aspect of having six transmembrane helices and a TRP domain. These structures tetramerize to form a receptor-activated non-selective ion channel. The specific protein being investigated in this thesis is the human transient receptor potential melastatin 8 (hTRPM8), a channel activated by the chemical ligand menthol and temperatures below 25 °C. TRPM8 is responsible for cold sensing and is related to pain relief associated with cooling compounds. TRPM8 has also been found to play a role in the regulation of various types of tumors. The structure of TRPM8 has been obtained through cryo-electron microscopy, but the functional contribution of individual portions of the protein to the overall protein function is unknown.
To gain more information about the function of the transmembrane region of hTRPM8, it was expressed in Escherichia coli (E. coli) and purified in detergent membrane mimics for experimentation. The construct contains the S4-S5 linker, pore domain (S5 and S6 transmembrane helices), pore helix, and TRP box. hTRPM8-PD+ was purified in the detergents n-Dodecyl-B-D-Maltoside (DDM), 16:0 Lyso PG, 1-Palmitoyl-2-hydroxy-sn-glycero-3-phosphoglycerol (LPPG), and 14:0 Lyso PG, 1-Myristoyl-2-hydroxy-sn-glycero-3-phosphoglycerol (LMPG) to determine which detergent resulted in a hTRPM8-PD+ sample of the most stability, purity, and highest concentrations. Following bacterial expression and protein purification, hTRPM8-PD+ was studied and characterized with circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy to learn more about the secondary structures and thermodynamic properties of the construct. Further studies can be done with more circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, planar lipid bilayer (BLM) electrophysiology, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) to gain more understanding of how the pore domain plus contributes to the activity of the whole protein construct.
To gain more information about the function of the transmembrane region of hTRPM8, it was expressed in Escherichia coli (E. coli) and purified in detergent membrane mimics for experimentation. The construct contains the S4-S5 linker, pore domain (S5 and S6 transmembrane helices), pore helix, and TRP box. hTRPM8-PD+ was purified in the detergents n-Dodecyl-B-D-Maltoside (DDM), 16:0 Lyso PG, 1-Palmitoyl-2-hydroxy-sn-glycero-3-phosphoglycerol (LPPG), and 14:0 Lyso PG, 1-Myristoyl-2-hydroxy-sn-glycero-3-phosphoglycerol (LMPG) to determine which detergent resulted in a hTRPM8-PD+ sample of the most stability, purity, and highest concentrations. Following bacterial expression and protein purification, hTRPM8-PD+ was studied and characterized with circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy to learn more about the secondary structures and thermodynamic properties of the construct. Further studies can be done with more circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, planar lipid bilayer (BLM) electrophysiology, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) to gain more understanding of how the pore domain plus contributes to the activity of the whole protein construct.
ContributorsMorelan, Danielle Taylor (Co-author) / Morelan, Danielle (Co-author) / Van Horn, Wade (Thesis director) / Chen, Julian (Committee member) / Luu, Dustin (Committee member) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-12
Description
The transient receptor potential channel subfamily V member 1 (TRPV1) functions as the heat and capsaicin receptor. It can be activated by heat, protons, pungent chemicals, and a variety of other endogenous mediators of nociception. TRPV1 is a non-selective cation channel consisting of 6 transmembrane domains (S1-S6), with helices S1-S4 forming the sensing domain and the S5-S6 helices forming the pore domain. Understanding the TRPV1 channel is imperative due to its relation to a variety of human diseases, including cancer, type II diabetes, hyper and hypothermia, and inflammatory disorders of the airways and bladder. Although TRPV1 is the best-studied thermosensitive-TRP channels of all the 28 family members, the molecular underpinning and the contributions of the human TRPV1 pore domain in thermo-sensing remains elusive. Recently, the human TRPV1 sensing domain was found to contribute to heat activation. It was found to undergo a non-denaturing temperature-dependent conformational change. This finding triggered interest in studying the function and the role of the human TRPV1 pore domain in the heat activation process. Specifically, to identify whether heat activation is intrinsic to the pore domain. This thesis paper explores and optimizes the purification protocol of the human TRPV1 pore domain through three different methods. The first method was using a denaturant, the second method was increasing the length of the histidine tags through Q5 insertion, and the third method was incorporating the protein construct into nanodiscs. In addition to the above three methods, size exclusion chromatography and ion-exchange chromatography were utilized after thrombin cleavage to separate the human TRPV1 pore domain from the cleaved MBP deca-histidine tags as well as the impurities.
ContributorsChang, Yu Tzu (Author) / Van Horn, Wade (Thesis director) / Wang, Xu (Committee member) / Cherry, Brian (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-12