lmmol · Proteins

Gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor subunit alpha-4

UniProt P48169 Organism Homo sapiens Gene GABRA4

Also known as: GABRA4

Function

Alpha subunit of the heteropentameric ligand-gated chloride channel gated by gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. GABA-gated chloride channels, also named GABA(A) receptors (GABAAR), consist of five subunits arranged around a central pore and contain GABA active binding site(s) located at the alpha and beta subunit interface(s). When activated by GABA, GABAARs selectively allow the flow of chloride anions across the cell membrane down their electrochemical gradient. GABAARs containing alpha-4 are predominantly extrasynaptic, contributing to tonic inhibition in dentate granule cells and thalamic relay neurons (By similarity). Extrasynaptic alpha-4-containing GABAARs control levels of excitability and network activity (By similarity). GABAAR containing alpha-4-beta-3-delta subunits can simultaneously bind GABA and histamine where histamine binds at the interface of two neighboring beta subunits, which may be involved in the regulation of sleep and wakefulness.

Classification

Family (Pfam)
PF02931 Neur_chan_LBD, PF02932 Neur_chan_memb
InterPro
GABAA/Glycine_rcpt, GABAAa_rcpt, GABBAa4_rcpt, Gabra-1-6_TM, Neur_chan_lig-bd, Neur_chan_lig-bd_sf, Neur_channel, Neuro-gated_channel_TM_sf, Neuro_actylchol_rec, Neurotrans-gated_channel_TM, Neurotransmitter_ion_chnl_CS
Functional cluster
Cytochrome c Oxidase & Mito Import Proteins

Experimental structures · PDB · 5

A predicted model is available from AlphaFold.

Gene Ontology · 17

Drugs targeting this protein · 68

Related proteins · sequence + function similarity

Co-cited proteins · studied together in the literature

Literature · 7 cited papers

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