Key result
Modeling reveals RyR EF-hand loops act as M2+ binding inhibition sites allosterically coupled to channel gates.
Why the study?
RyRs mediate excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal and cardiac muscle differently, through mechanisms not fully understood at the molecular level.
This study provides a novel structure-based statistical mechanics model of Ryanodine receptor operation by calcium and magnesium ions, offering a potential platform for designing pharmacological interventions for cardiac and skeletal muscle diseases.
EF-hand sites may enable selective RyR modulation; leaves open validation and therapeutic translation in cardiac or skeletal disease.
Ryanodine receptors (RyRs) serve for excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal and cardiac muscle cells in a noticeably different way, not fully understood at the molecular level. We addressed the structure of skeletal (RyR1) and cardiac (RyR2) isoforms relevant to gating by Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ ions (M 2+ ). Bioinformatics analysis of RyR structures ascertained the EF-hand loops as the M 2+ binding inhibition site and revealed its allosteric coupling to the channel gate. The intra-monomeric inactivation pathway interacts with the Ca 2+ -activation pathway in both RyR isoforms, and the inter-monomeric pathway, stronger in RyR1, couples to the gate through the S23*-loop of the neighbor monomer. These structural findings were implemented in the model of RyR operation based on statistical mechanics and the Monod-Wyman-Changeux theorem. The model, which defines closed, open, and inactivated macrostates allosterically coupled to M 2+ -binding activation and inhibition sites, approximated the open probability data for both RyR1 and RyR2 channels at a broad range of M 2+ concentrations. The proposed mechanism of RyR operation provides a new interpretation of the structural and functional data of mammalian RyR channels on common grounds. This may provide a new platform for designing pharmacological interventions in the relevant diseases of skeletal and cardiac muscles. The synthetic approach developed in this work may find general use in deciphering mechanisms of ion channel functions.
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Zahradnı́ková et al. (2025) studied Skeletal and cardiac muscle function. Bioinformatics analysis and statistical mechanics modeling was evaluated on RyR channel open probability and allosteric coupling. Bioinformatics analysis and statistical mechanics modeling of RyR1 and RyR2 isoforms revealed that EF-hand loops act as the M2+ binding inhibition site, allosterically coupled to the channel gate.
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