Functional Analysis of Ligand‐Gated Chloride Channels in a Cnidarian Sheds Light on the Evolution of Inhibitory Signaling
Rs of the cnidarian radiation and find that none is activated by GABA or glycine, whereas three are activated by glutamate. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we identify a lysine residue in the canonical ligand-binding pocket that is important for activation by glutamate. Our results identify a group of inhibitory ion channel receptors in Cnidaria that use glutamate as a ligand. Moreover, they suggest that inhibitory ion channel receptors in Cnidaria massively diversified, which may have been instrumental in the evolution of complex behaviors and sensory processing by the cnidarian nervous system.
Authors
- Linda Kloss
- Ulrich Technau (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4472-8258)
- Alison G. Cole (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7515-7489)
- Stefan Gründer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7635-9883)
- Simone Albani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3560-4539)
- Juan D. Montenegro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4898-5761)
- Sabrina Kaul
- Abhilasha Ojha
- Sylvia Joussen
- Michèle Bachmann
- Mihaela Raycheva
- Günther Schmalzing
- Lisa Huf
- Audrey Ortega-Ramírez
Institutions
- University of Vienna (AT)
- Forschungszentrum Jülich (DE)
- RWTH Aachen University (DE)
- BOKU University (AT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Science
- Published
- 2026-05-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202515481
- Primary Topic
- Marine Invertebrate Physiology and Ecology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft