TRP Family

1. TRP Family The transient receptor potential (TRP) channel protein family consists of a special family of cation channel proteins that are closely related to Ca2+ and play an extremely important role in sensory physiology. It has a wide range of effects, including short-term effects such as cell contraction, secretion, sensory signal transduction, and long-term effects such as cell growth, proliferation, and death. TRP is a gating molecule in the sensory system and is an intermediary between the external environment and the nervous system, which converts thermal, chemical, and mechanical stimuli into inward currents. The mammalian TRP channel protein family includes seven proteins that each contains six transmembrane domains, which can be divided into two broad categories. The first class of TRPs includes TRPA, TRPC, TRPM, TRPN, and TRPV, and their transmembrane structures domain has sequence homology and contains a C-terminal 23-25 amino acid "TRP domain" in the 6th transmembrane domain; the second category includes TRPP and TRPML, with fewer TRPs than the first sequence homology, and an extracellular loop between the first and second transmembrane domains, with similar primary structural sequences and predicted topological structure. These TRP proteins have different permeability for different cations, lack the positively charged amino acid residues necessary for voltage-gated channels in their fourth transmembrane domain and form pores in the S5 and S6 hydrophilic regions; Both the N-terminus and the C-terminus are intracellular, and the N-terminus has an ankyrin repeat and a coiled-coil domain that binds to the protein or cytoskeleton, and this structure is required for TRP protein interaction.