Interaction between the sodium channel inactivation linker and domain III S4-S5

The Ill-IV linker (LIII-IV) of the rat brain sodium channel is critical for fast inactivation, possibly forming a fast inactivation particle. Inactivation can be disrupted by mutation of a conserved alanine at position 1329 in the S4-S5 loop of domain III. Combination of a charged mutation at 1329 with a compensatory (opposite) charge mutation at position 1489 in LIII-IV partially restores inactivation of the channel. The compensatory charge mutant channel has a single-channel mean open time that is similar to that of the wild-type channel and is similar to 50 times shorter than that of the LIII-IV mutant channel. The results of thermodynamic cycle analysis indicate that the mutations in domain III S4-S5 and LIII-IV have a coupling energy of 2.8 kcal/mol, indicating that the two mutations act interdependently. These data suggest that LIII-IV interacts directly with A1329, which may form part of the docking site if LIII-IV is a fast inactivation particle.