Differences in saxitoxin and tetrodotoxin binding revealed by mutagenesis of the Na⁺ channel outer vestibule

The marine guanidinium toxins, saxitoxin (STX) and tetrodotoxin (TTX), have played crucial roles in the study of voltage-gated Na⁺ channels. Because they have similar actions, sizes, and functional groups, they have been thought to associate with the channel in the same manner, and early mutational studies supported this idea. Recent experiments by Kirsch et al. (1994. Biophys. J. 67:2305-2315) have suggested that the toxins bind differently to the isoform-specific domain I Phe/Tyr/Cys location. In the adult skeletal muscle Na⁺ channel isoform (μl), we compared the effects on both TTX and STX affinities of mutations in eight positions known to influence toxin binding. The results permitted the assignment of energies contributed by each amino acid to the binding reaction. For neutralizing mutations of Asp⁴⁰⁰, Glu⁷⁵⁵, and Lys¹²³⁷, all thought to be part of the selectivity filter of the channel, the loss of binding energy was identical for the two toxins. However, the loss of binding energy was quite different for vestibule residues considered to be more superficial. Specifically, STX affinity was reduced much more by neutralizations of Glu⁷⁵⁸ and Asp¹⁵³². On the other hand, mutation of Tyr⁴⁰¹ to Cys reduced TTX binding energy twice as much as it reduced STX binding energy. Kinetic analysis suggested that all outer vestibule residues tested interacted with both toxins early in the binding reaction (consistent with larger changes in the binding than unbinding rates) before the transition state and formation of the final bound complex. We propose a revised model of TTX and STX binding in the Na⁺ channel outer vestibule in which the toxins have similar interactions at the selectivity filter, TTX has a stronger interaction with Tyr⁴⁰¹, and STX interacts more strongly with the more extracellular residues.