Neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in Drosophila: antibodies against an alpha-like and a non-alpha-subunit recognize the same high-affinity alpha-bungarotoxin binding complex
Schloss, P.; Betz, H.; Schröder, C.; Gundelfinger, E.D.
Journal of Neurochemistry 57(5): 1556-1562
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-3042 PMID: 1919573 DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.1991.tb06351.x
Accession: 040790993
ALS and ARD proteins are thought to represent a ligand binding and a structural subunit, respectively, of Drosophila nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). Here, antibodies raised against fusion constructs encompassing specific regions of the ALS and ARD proteins were used to investigate a potential association of these two polypeptides. Both ALS and ARD antisera removed 20-30% of the high-affinity binding sites for the nicotinic antagonist 125I-alpha-bungarotoxin (125I-alpha-Btx) from detergent extracts of fly head membranes. Combinations of both types of antisera also precipitated the same fraction of alpha-Btx binding sites, a result suggesting that both polypeptides are components of the previously defined class I 125I-alpha-Btx binding sites in the Drosophila CNS. 125I-alpha-Btx binding to a MS2 polymerase-ALS fusion protein containing the predicted antagonist binding region showed that the ALS protein indeed constitutes the ligand binding subunit of a nicotinic receptor complex. These data are consistent with neuronal nAChRs in Drosophila containing at least two types of subunits, ligand binding and structural ones.
