The paper
M.D. Fuller et al., “Molecular mechanism of calcium channel regulation in the fight-or-flight response,” Sci Signal, 3:ra70, 2010. Free F1000 Evaluation
The finding
Pounding heart, tight muscles, and rapid breathing are all familiar effects of the “fight or flight” response. Adrenaline receptors turn on protein kinase A (PKA), which opens calcium channels in muscle tissue, tensing the body for action. But which residues PKA phosphorylates to release a stopper mechanism within the channel was a 25-year-old mystery—until William Catterall and colleagues from the University of Washington in Seattle painstakingly worked out the details.
The mystery
The whole field was stumped, says Catterall: “It was an embarrassment we were all sweeping under the rug.” His lab tried to put the complex together in transfected cells, but they couldn’t get it to work. “It was a lot of frustration for multiple people in the lab,” he says.
The key
Then ...
