Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 2021
A single historical substitution drives an increase in acetylcholine receptor complexity
Abstract
Significance Human muscle-type acetylcholine receptors are heteropentameric ion channels formed from four evolutionarily related subunits, which assemble with a specific stoichiometry and arrangement. It has long been thought that each of the modern-day subunits are required for function. We dispel this notion by first showing that an ancestral β-subunit can replace both the β- and δ-subunits in human acetylcholine receptors. We then identify a single historical amino acid substitution that eliminates the ability of the ancestral β-subunit to functionally replace the human δ-subunit. Our work experimentally demonstrates how acetylcholine receptor subunit complexity could have evolved and uncovers a form of contingency that is unique to heteromeric protein complexes, in which mutations that “lock in” individual subunits determine future evolutionary paths. Human adult muscle-type acetylcholine receptors are heteropentameric ion channels formed from four different, but evolutionarily related, subunits. These subunits assemble with a precise stoichiometry and arrangement such that two chemically distinct agonist-binding sites are formed between specific subunit pairs. How this subunit complexity evolved and became entrenched is unclear. Here we show that a single historical amino acid substitution is able to constrain the subunit stoichiometry of functional acetylcholine receptors. Using a combination of ancestral sequence reconstruction, single-channel electrophysiology, and concatenated subunits, we reveal that an ancestral β-subunit can not only replace the extant β-subunit but can also supplant the neighboring δ-subunit. By forward evolving the ancestral β-subunit with a single amino acid substitution, we restore the requirement for a δ-subunit for functional channels. These findings reveal that a single historical substitution necessitates an increase in acetylcholine receptor complexity and, more generally, that simple stepwise mutations can drive subunit entrenchment in this model heteromeric protein.