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The acetylcholine-binding protein: ‘What's in a name?’

The Pharmacogenomics Journal volume 1, pages 221–223 (2001)Cite this article

The acetylcholine-binding protein (AChBP) is not an ion-conducting, nicotinic ACh receptor by another name. But the recently published high-resolution structure of the AChBP1 is richly revealing of the nature of the ligand-binding domains and the subunit interfaces of its more fully articulated cousins, the nicotinic receptors.

The AChBP was detected originally in a snail cDNA library. It is a soluble protein secreted by snail glial cells into cholinergic synapses, where it modulates synaptic transmission by binding acetylcholine (ACh).2 The AChBP binds agonists and competitive antagonists of the nicotinic ACh receptor, including ACh, nicotine, epibatidine, (+)-tubocurarine, and α-bungarotoxin. The spectrum of affinities most resembles that of the homomeric neuronal nicotinic receptors composed of α7 or α9 subunits.

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Figure 1

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  1. Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Center for Molecular Recognition, Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, and Neurology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    A Karlin

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Correspondence to A Karlin.

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Karlin, A. The acetylcholine-binding protein: ‘What's in a name?’. Pharmacogenomics J 1, 221–223 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.tpj.6500056

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