Midterm Flashcards
3 types of receptors in the nervous system
nicotinic receptor superfamily: pentameric
glutamate receptor family: tetrameric
ATP P2X receptor family: trimeric
steps of creating mutant receptors
- design primers
- PCR rxn
- Digest PCR product w/ DpN1, destroy methylated parental DNA
- Transform bacterial cells
- Plate onto LB/Amp (kill bacteria w/o plasmid)
- Pick colonies, miniprep
- Digest DNA to select for mutant
- Transcribe to make RNA
- Inject RNA into oocytes
how many P2X ATP receptor genes in mammals
which are highly expressed in brain
7 genes
P2X2, P2X4, and P2X6 highly expressed in brain
4 key properties of P2X2 receptors
require ATP to open
modulated by membrane potential, pH, and Zn
how do membrane potential, pH, and Zn affect P2X2 currens
more negative membrane potential, more zinc, more acidic pH = greater current
histidine residues of P2X2
involved in proton and zinc binding
cysteine residues of P2X2
disulfide bonds and bind zinc
open reading frame
sequence found b/w an ATG (Met) and a stop codon
there are 6 potential reading frames (which are translated into proteins)
site directed mutagenesis
molecular bio method used to make specific changes to the DNA sequences of a gene
which amino acids are often used for mutagenesis
alanine and cysteine
alanine substitutions
indicates amino acid importance
cysteine substitutions
used to determine amino acid topology
can see whether the cysteine is located intracellular or extracellularly
PCR steps
denaturation: temp increased to separate DNA strands
annealing: temp decreased for primers to base pair to complementary DNA template
extension: polymerase extends primer
what are the components of PCR reaction
dNTPs, buffer, template DNA, primers, Pfu turbo
what are the three different types of PCR DNA segments
full length tempalte
segments that are in the process of extension (unknown length)
segments of fixed length equal to distance b/w primers
site directed mutagenesis: what makes a good primer
- forward/reverse must be complementary
- 25-30 bps in length
- mutation should be in middle
- GC content b/w 40-60%
- look for secondary structures
Pfu vs Taq polymerase
Taq: cheaper and faster; not good for sequences longer than 500-1000 bps, can add base to 3’ end causing frame shift mutation
Pfu: proofreading activity and higher fidelity (fewer errors)
transformation of bacteria: steps
- amp resistant plasmids added to XL1 blue cells
- Cells heat shocked, cells take up plasmid and are transformed
- cells spread on agar plate containing ampicillin
- ampicillin kills cells w/o plasmid
- cells incubated
why are Xenopus oocytes ideal for ion channel expression
express large amounts of the protein
voltage clamp techniques are simple
oocytes are large and easy to see
limitation to oocyte expression system
large amount of calcium activated chloride channels, which could cover P2X2 channel responses (need to be silenced using inhibitor or reduce Ca in solution we use)
resting membrane potential for neuron
-70 mV
inside neuron is more negative than outside