Biophysical characterization of the honeybee DSC1 orthologue reveals a novel voltage-dependent Ca2+ channel subfamily: CaV4
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Bilaterian voltage-gated Na(+) channels (NaV) evolved from voltage-gated Ca(2+) channels (CaV). The Drosophila melanogaster Na(+) channel 1 (DSC1), which features a D-E-E-A selectivity filter sequence that is intermediate between CaV and NaV channels, is evidence of this evolution. Phylogenetic analysis has classified DSC1 as a Ca(2+)-permeable Na(+) channel belonging to the NaV2 family because of its sequence similarity with NaV channels. This is despite insect NaV2 channels (DSC1 and its orthologue in Blatella germanica, BSC1) being more permeable to Ca(2+) than Na(+) In this study, we report the cloning and molecular characterization of the honeybee (Apis mellifera) DSC1 orthologue. We reveal several sequence variations caused by alternative splicing, RNA editing, and genomic variations. Using the Xenopus oocyte heterologous expression system and the two-microelectrode voltage-clamp technique, we find that the channel exhibits slow activation and inactivation kinetics, insensitivity to tetrodotoxin, and block by Cd(2+) and Zn(2+) These characteristics are reminiscent of CaV channels. We also show a strong selectivity for Ca(2+) and Ba(2+) ions, marginal permeability to Li(+), and impermeability to Mg(2+) and Na(+) ions. Based on current ion channel nomenclature, the D-E-E-A selectivity filter, and the properties we have uncovered, we propose that DSC1 homologues should be classified as CaV4 rather than NaV2. Indeed, channels that contain the D-E-E-A selectivity sequence are likely to feature the same properties as the honeybee's channel, namely slow activation and inactivation kinetics and strong selectivity for Ca(2+) ions.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame distilled prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. Learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and 10,348 direct Gemma labels. Candidate is the union of thresholded teacher heads; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels or direct frontier model labels.
Codex and Gemma teacher scores by category
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one teacher head, not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".