Representative Publications

Godellas, N.E., Cymes, G.D., and Grosman, C. 2022. An experimental test of the nicotinic hypothesis of COVID-19.  PNAS, 119: e2204242119. [Abstract]

Godellas, N.E., and Grosman, C. 2022. Probing function in ligand-gated ion channels without measuring ion transport. Journal of General Physiology, 154: e202213082.[Abstract] [Commentary]

Kumar, P., Cymes, G.D., and Grosman, C. 2021. Structure and function at the lipid–protein interface of a pentameric ligand-gated ion channel. PNAS, 118: e2100164118.[Abstract]

Cymes, G.D., and Grosman, C. 2021. Signal transduction through Cys-loop receptors is mediated by the nonspecific bumping of closely apposed domains. PNAS, 118:e2021016118. [Abstract]

Sethuramanujam, S., Matsumoto, A., deRosenroll, G., Murphy-Baum, B., Grosman, C., McIntosh, J.M., Jing, M., Li, Y., Berson, D., Yonehara, K., Awatramani, G.B. 2021. Rapid multi-directed cholinergic transmission in the central nervous system. Nature Communications, 12:1374. [Abstract]

Kumar, P., Wang, Y., Zhang, Z., Zhao, Z., Cymes, G.D., Tajkhorshid, E., and Grosman, C. 2019. Cryo-EM structures of a lipid-sensitive pentameric ligand-gated ion channel embedded in a phosphatidylcholine-only bilayer. PNAS, 117:1788–1798. [Abstract]

Harpole, T. J. and Grosman, C. 2019. A crucial role for side-chain conformation in the versatile charge selectivity of Cys-loop receptors. Biophysical Journal, 116:1667–1681. [Abstract]

Gonzalez-Gutierrez, G., Wang, Y., Cymes, G.D., Tajkhorshid, E., and Grosman, C. 2017. Chasing the open-state structure of pentameric ligand-gated ion channels. Journal of General Physiology, 149:1119–1138. [Abstract]

Cymes, G. D. and Grosman, C. 2016. Identifying the elusive link between amino acid sequence and charge selectivity in pentameric ligand-gated ion channels. PNAS, 113:E7106–E7115. [Abstract] [Commentary][]

Cymes, G. D. and Grosman, C. 2015. Engineered Ionizable Side Chains. In Novel Chemical Tools to Study Ion Channel Biology. Ch. 2. Springer, New York. C. Ahern and S. Pless Eds.

Gonzalez-Gutierrez, G. and Grosman, C. 2015. The atypical cation-conduction and gating properties of ELIC underscore the marked functional versatility of the pentameric ligand-gated ion-channel fold. Journal of General Physiology, 146:15–36. [Abstract]

Harpole, T. J. and Grosman, C. 2014. Side-chain conformation at the selectivity filter shapes the permeation free-energy landscape of an ion channel. PNAS, 111:E3196–E3205 [Abstract]

Papke, D. and Grosman, C. 2014. The role of intracellular linkers in gating and desensitization of human pentameric ligand-gated ion channels. Journal of Neuroscience, 34:7238–7252. [Abstract]

Gonzalez-Gutierrez, G., Cuello, L. G., Nair, S. K. and Grosman, C. 2013. Gating of the proton-gated ion channel from Gloeobacter violaceus at pH 4 as revealed by X-ray crystallography. PNAS, 110:18716–18721. [Abstract]

Cymes, G. D. and Grosman, C. 2012. The unanticipated complexity of the selectivity-filter glutamates of nicotinic receptors. Nature Chemical Biology, 8:975–981. [Abstract][News and Views]

Gonzalez-Gutierrez, G., Lukk, T., Agarwal, V., Papke, D., Nair, S. K. and Grosman, C. 2012. Mutations that stabilize the open state of the Erwinia chrisanthemi ligand-gated ion channel fail to change the conformation of the pore domain in crystals. PNAS, 109:6331–6336. [Abstract]

Cymes, G. D. and Grosman, C. 2011. Estimating the pKa values of basic and acidic side chains in ion channels using electrophysiological recordings: a robust approach to an elusive problem. Proteins, 79:3485–3493. [Abstract]

Cymes, G. D. and Grosman, C. 2011. Tunable pKa values and the basis of opposite charge selectivities in nicotinic-type receptors. Nature, 474:526–530. [Abstract]

Papke, D., Gonzalez-Gutierrez, G. and Grosman, C. 2011. Desensitization of neurotransmitter-gated ion channels during high-frequency stimulation: a comparative study of Cys-loop, AMPA and purinergic receptors. Journal of Physiology, 589:1571–1585. [Abstract]

Gonzalez-Gutierrez, G. and Grosman, C. 2010. Bridging the gap between structural models of nicotinic receptor superfamily ion channels and their corresponding functional states. Journal of Molecular Biology, 403:693–705. [Abstract]

Elenes, S., Decker, M., Cymes, G. D. and Grosman, C. 2009. Decremental response to high-frequency trains of acetylcholine pulses but unaltered fractional Ca2+ currents in a panel of "slow-channel syndrome" nicotinic receptor mutants. Journal of General Physiology, 133:151–69. [Abstract]

Cymes, G. D. and Grosman, C. 2008. Pore-opening mechanism of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor evinced by proton transfer. Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, 15(4):389–96. [Abstract]

Elenes, S., Ni, Y., Cymes, G.D. and Grosman, C. 2006. Desensitization contributes to the synaptic response of gain-of-function mutants of the muscle nicotinic receptor. Journal of General Physiology, 128:615–27. [Abstract]

Purohit, Y. and Grosman, C. 2006. Block of muscle nicotinic receptors by choline suggests that the activation and desensitization gates act as distinct molecular entities. Journal of General Physiology 127:703–17. [Abstract]

Purohit, Y. and Grosman, C. 2006. Estimating binding affinities of the nicotinic receptor for low-efficacy ligands using mixtures of agonists and two-dimensional concentration-response relationships. Journal of General Physiology, 127:719–35. [Abstract]

Cymes, G.D., Ni, Y. and Grosman, C. 2005. Probing ion-channel pores one proton at a time. Nature, 438:975–80. [Abstract] [News and Views][]

Grosman, C. 2003. Free-energy landscapes of ion-channel gating are malleable: changes in the number of bound ligands are accompanied by changes in the location of the transition state in acetylcholine receptor channels. Biochemistry, 42:14977–87. [Abstract]

Grosman, C. 2002. Linear Free-Energy Relationships and the Dynamics of Gating in the Acetylcholine Receptor Channel. A phi-value analysis of an allosteric transition at the single-molecule level. Journal of Biological Physics, 28:267–77. [Article]