Purification and Reconstitution of TRPV1 for Spectroscopic Analysis.

Polymodal ion channels transduce multiple stimuli of different natures into allosteric changes; these dynamic conformations are challenging to determine and remain largely unknown. With recent advances in single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) shedding light on the structural features of agonist binding sites and the activation mechanism of several ion channels, the stage is set for an in-depth dynamic analysis of their gating mechanisms using spectroscopic approaches. Spectroscopic techniques such as electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and double electron-electron resonance (DEER) have been mainly restricted to the study of prokaryotic ion channels that can be purified in large quantities.