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Structures of the volume-regulated anion channel LRRC8A/D in activating and inhibiting conditions.

Overview

Authors: Elena F. Lehmann1, Fabienne Stierli1, Sonja Rutz1, Dawid Deneka1, Raimund Dutzler1
  1. Department of Biochemistry University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190,Zurich, Switzerland
Institutions: University of Zurich (Switzerland)
Journal: Nature communications, volume 17, issue 1, article 9884
Dates: received 10 November 2025; accepted 25 August 2026; published online 17 September 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.1038/s41467-026-77508-x · PMID 42754598 · PMCID PMC13586245 · OpenAlex W7213471641
Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: data only
Categories: histology / microscopy (modality), intracellular / patch clamp (modality), human (organism), cellular / molecular (subfield)
Methods: Connectivity, Spectral & time-frequency, fMRI & imaging, Physiology & signal measures
Keywords: Cryoelectron microscopy, X-ray crystallography, Permeation and transport, Chloride channels
MeSH: Membrane Proteins*, Animals, Cell Size, Cyclopentanes, HEK293 Cells, Humans, Indans, Ion Channel Gating, Models, Molecular, Patch-Clamp Techniques, Protein Conformation, Protein Subunits (* major topic)
Topic: Ion channel regulation and function (Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology), according to OpenAlex
Funding: Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (Swiss National Science Foundation) (310030_204373, 3200-0-239938); University of Zurich CanDoc Grant K-41106-06-01
Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 59 references in the paper

Abstract

Volume-regulated anion channels, which are activated in response to hypotonicity, are heteromers composed of LRRC8 family members. They consist of the obligatory subunit LRRC8A and at least another paralog that determines their substrate preference. Here we investigate heteromeric assemblies composed of LRRC8A and D subunits, the latter of which confer permeability to amino acids, osmolytes and anti-cancer drugs. Using patch-clamp electrophysiology, we show that LRRC8A/D channels are reversibly activated by cell swelling and that their response is modulated by sybodies targeting the A subunits, which either potentiate or repress channel activity. Structures of the LRRC8A/D channel in complex with the inhibitory sybody Sb1 define the channel stoichiometry of four A and two D subunits, with Sb1 stabilizing the A subunits in a similar closed channel conformation as found in homomeric LRRC8A assemblies. In LRRC8A/D heteromers, the two D subunits weaken the arrangement of A subunits and thus enhance the activation properties of the channel. This channel conformation is strongly perturbed upon binding of the potentiating sybody Sb4, which disrupts the packing of the cytoplasmic domains linking their mobility to pore opening.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper links to its data, not to its authors' code: see the Data section.

Tracing map

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Data

Datasets cited

Data availability

The three-dimensional cryo-EM density maps generated in this study have been deposited in the Electron Microscopy Data Bank under accession numbers EMD-55589 (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/emdb/EMD-55589) (LRRC8D), EMD-55590 (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/emdb/EMD-55590) (LRRC8A/D/Sb1c1), EMD-55591 (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/emdb/EMD-55591) (LRRC8A/D/Sb1c2) and EMD-55592 (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/emdb/EMD-55592) (LRRC8A/D/Sb4). Coordinates for the models of LRRC8D, LRRC8A/D/Sb1c1, LRRC8A/D/Sb1c2 and LRRC8A/D/Sb4 have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank under accession numbers 9T5M (http://dx.doi.org/10.2210/pdb9T5M/pdb), 9T5N (http://dx.doi.org/10.2210/pdb9T5N/pdb), 9T5O (http://dx.doi.org/10.2210/pdb9T5O/pdb) and 9T5P (http://dx.doi.org/10.2210/pdb9T5P/pdb), respectively. Coordinates and structure factors of the X-ray structures of the LRRD of LRRC8D and the LRRC8A/Sb4 complex generated in this study have been deposited in the PDB under accession number 9T5R (http://dx.doi.org/10.2210/pdb9T5R/pdb) and 9T5Q (http://dx.doi.org/10.2210/pdb9T5Q/pdb), respectively. All other data needed to evaluate the conclusions of the study are present in the paper or in the supplementary materials. Source data are provided with this paper.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 5 authors, 4 keywords, 12 MeSH terms, 2 funders, 59 references.

Cite

This paper

Lehmann, E. F., Stierli, F., Rutz, S., Deneka, D., & Dutzler, R. (2026). Structures of the volume-regulated anion channel LRRC8A/D in activating and inhibiting conditions. Nature communications, 17(1), 9884. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77508-x

BibTeX

@article{lehmann2026structures,
author = {Lehmann, Elena F. and Stierli, Fabienne and Rutz, Sonja and Deneka, Dawid and Dutzler, Raimund},
title = {{Structures of the volume-regulated anion channel LRRC8A/D in activating and inhibiting conditions}},
journal = {Nature communications},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
volume = {17},
number = {1},
pages = {9884},
publisher = {Nature Publishing Group},
issn = {2041-1723},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-77508-x},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77508-x},
pmid = {42754598},
pmcid = {PMC13586245}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Lehmann, Elena F.
AU - Stierli, Fabienne
AU - Rutz, Sonja
AU - Deneka, Dawid
AU - Dutzler, Raimund
TI - Structures of the volume-regulated anion channel LRRC8A/D in activating and inhibiting conditions
T2 - Nature communications
J2 - Nat Commun
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/17
VL - 17
IS - 1
SP - 9884
SN - 2041-1723
PB - Nature Publishing Group
DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-77508-x
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77508-x
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

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