Ramón Latorre
Director of the Centro Interdisciplinario de Neurociencia de Valparaíso
Full Professor at Neuroscience Institute of the Universidad de Valparaíso
Research Scholar, University of Chicago – Adjunct Professor, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
Corresponding Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences
Member of the council of the Academia de Ciencias de América Latina and Foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA.
Contact information:
E-mail: ramon.latorre@uv.cl
Pasaje Harrington 287, Playa Ancha. Valparaíso
Phone: (56)-(32)-2508040
Ion channels are membrane proteins activated by sensing stimuli such as membrane voltage, ligand binding or temperature and transduce this information into conformational changes that open the channel pore. A key question that my laboratory is trying to answer is how do the protein domains involved in sensing stimuli (sensors) and opening the pore (gates) communicate. We are interested in two type of channels transient receptor potential (TRP) channels that confer thermosensation and Ca2+- and voltage-activate K+ channels because they are unique to the extent that they integrate a variety of physical and chemical stimuli.
- Castillo, J.P., Rui, H., Basilio,D., Roux, B., Latorre, R., Bezanilla, F., and Holmgren, M. 2015. Mechanism of potassium ion uptake by Na+/K-ATPase. Nature Comm. July 24 6:7622 Doi: 10.1038/ncomms8622
- Castillo JP, Sánchez-Rodríguez JE, Clark Hyde H, Zaelzer CA, Aguayo D, Sepúlveda R, Luk LYP, Kent S, Gonzalez-Nilo F, Bezanilla F, and Latorre R. 2016. β1 Subunit-Induced Structural Rearrangements of the Ca2+- and Voltage-Activated (BK) Channel. Proc. Natl Acad Sci (USA). 113(23): E3231-9. doi:10.1073/pnas.1606381113.
- Latorre R, Castillo K, Carrasquel-Ursulaez W, Sepulveda RV, Gonzalez-Nilo F, Gonzalez C, Alvarez O. 2017. Molecular determinants of BK channel functional diversity and functioning- Physiol Rev. Jan;97(1):39-87. DOI: 10.1152/physrev.00001.2016
- Marthur, C., Johnson, K.R., Tong, B.A., Srikumar, D., Basilio, D., Latorre, R., Bezanilla, F., Holmgren, M. 2018. Demonstration of ion channel synthesis by isolated squid giant axon provides functional evidence for localized axonal membrane protein translation. Sci. Reps. 8:2207. DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-20684-8
- Carrasquel-Ursulaez, W., Alvarez, O., Bezanilla, F., and Latorre, R. 2018. Determination of the stoichiometry between α- and γ1 subunits of the BK channel using LRET. Biophy. J. 114:1-5. doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2018.04.008
- Carmona, E, Larsson HP, Neely, A., Alvarez, O., Latorre, R*., and Gonzalez, C. 2018. Gating charge displacement in a monomeric voltage-gated proton (Hv1) channel. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA). 115:9240-9245.
- Lorenzo-Ceballos Y, Carrasquel-Ursulaez W, Castillo K, Alvarez O, Latorre R. (2019) Calcium-driven regulation of voltage-sensing domains in BK channels. eLife. 8. pii: e44934. doi: 10.7554/eLife.44934.
- Díaz-Franulic I, Raddatz N, Castillo K, González-Nilo FD, Latorre R. 2020. A folding reaction at the C-terminal domain drives temperature sensing in TRPM8 channels. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 117(11):20298-20304. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1920008117
