AUTHOR=Cartereau Alison , Taillebois Emiliane , Selvam Balaji , Martin Carine , Graton Jérôme , Le Questel Jean-Yves , Thany Steeve H. 

TITLE=Cloning and Expression of Cockroach α7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Subunit

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physiology

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2020.00418

DOI=10.3389/fphys.2020.00418

ISSN=1664-042X

ABSTRACT=<p>Understanding insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subtypes is of major interest because they are the main target of several insecticides. In this study, we have cloned a cockroach Pameα7 subunit that encodes a 518 amino acid protein with futures typical of nAChR subunit, and sequence homology to α7 subunit. Pameα7 is differently expressed in the cockroach nervous system, in particular in the antennal lobes, optical lobes and the mushroom bodies where specific expression was found in the non-compact Kenyon cells. In addition, we found that cockroach Pameα7 subunits expressed in <italic>Xenopus laevis</italic> oocytes can assemble to form homomeric receptors. Electrophysiological recordings using the two-electrode voltage clamp method demonstrated that nicotine induced an I<sub><italic>max</italic></sub> current of −92 ± 27 nA at 1 mM. Despite that currents are low with the endogenous ligand, ACh, this study provides information on the first expression of cockroach α7 homomeric receptor.</p>