Structural dynamics of the ELIC’s M4 membrane-spanning segment depend on the membrane lipid composition

The role of lipids in defining membrane protein structure-function correlations is still poorly understood. Pentameric ligand-gated ion channels (pLGICs) are not the exception; although pLGICs structural models have given us insights at the molecular level of how the structure defines their function, they have failed to explain their lipid dependent functional regulation. pLGICs have an extracellular ligand-binding site and a transmembrane domain formed by four spanning-membrane segments (M1 to M4).