Molecular mechanism of calcium inhibition in viral channelrhodopsins
Dmitrii Zabelskii, Sergey Bukhdruker, Gerrit H. U. Lamm, Siarhei Bukhalovich, Mako Aoyama, Vsevolod Sudarev, Alexander Kuzmin, Mikihiro Shibata, Kota Kotayama, Hideki Kandori, Josef Wachtveitl, Ernst Bamberg, Valentin Gordeliy · 2026
Read Molecular mechanism of calcium inhibition in viral channelrhodopsins by Dmitrii Zabelskii, Sergey Bukhdruker, Gerrit H. U. Lamm, Siarhei Bukhalovich, Mako Aoyama, Vsevolod Sudarev, Alexander Kuzmin, Mikihiro Shibata, Kota Kotayama, Hideki Kandori, Josef Wachtveitl, Ernst Bamberg, Valentin Gordeliy (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13582892.txt.
Description
Some giant viruses carry light-gated ion channels that calcium can shut down, and a structural study shows how. Zabelskii and co-authors combined X-ray crystallography with two kinds of spectroscopy on the channel OLPVR1. Their atomic-level structure, solved with calcium present, reveals a temporary calcium pocket inside the cell-side entrance, near the light-sensing retinal. When light activates the channel, the trapped calcium blocks a gate residue from flipping into its open position.
Sodium ions then pile up behind the blocked gate instead of passing through. The mechanism explains calcium inhibition in this channel family. It also hands engineers a blueprint for better calcium optogenetic tools.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Dmitrii Zabelskii, Sergey Bukhdruker, Gerrit H. U. Lamm, Siarhei Bukhalovich, Mako Aoyama, Vsevolod Sudarev, Alexander Kuzmin, Mikihiro Shibata, Kota Kotayama, Hideki Kandori, Josef Wachtveitl, Ernst Bamberg, Valentin Gordeliy |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 89 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |