Ts for ,75 of all a (Fig. 6A, lane 1). This crosslink is reducible by DTT and can be substantially reformed on the cell surface with QPD (Fig. 6A, lanes 2 and 3). In the simultaneous presence of W203C, however, very little 
a- b1 is crosslinked either endogenously or by QPD after reduction by DTT (Fig. 6A, lanes 4?). By contrast, W22C and W203C are endogenously crosslinked just as extenOrientations and Proximities of BK a S0 and SFigure 4. Extents of disulfide bond formation between Cys in S0 and Cys in S4. (A ) Cells were transfected with the indicated double-Cysmutant BK a. After 2 days, the cells were collected, and biotinylated with the impermeant sulfo-NHS-biotin. The cells were divided and were either not further treated, treated with 10 mM DTT, or treated with 10 mM DTT and 40 mM QPD. The conditions were the same as in Fig. 2. Cells were lysed. Solubilized BK a was captured on Neutravidin beads, cleaved with HRV-3c protease between S0 and S1, electrophoresed, and immuno-blotted with an anti-BK a-C-terminal-epitope antibody. The extents of crosslinking were calculated from the relative integrated densities of the full-length a band and the truncated (Frag) a band, corrected by the efficiency of HRV-3c cleavage, determined individually for each Cys pair in each experiment (not shown). The efficiencies of cleavage were approximately 70 . N = 2?. Mean + SD. N = 2? experiments, each with duplicate determinations. * P,0.05, **P,0.01, *** P,0.001, ****, P, 0.0001 by one-way Anova followed by Tukey’s post-hoc analysis. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0058335.gto protein disulfide isomerases (PDIs) in the endoplasmic reticulum, these also function as chaperones and 23727046 could promote some JI-101 site abstraction of the helices from the membrane and their partial unfolding [22]. QPD on the other hand is a relatively bulky, doubly positively MedChemExpress ITI007 charged reagent, which is unlikely tospend much time in a hydrophobic and/or crowded environment. Despite the deviations the preferred structures required by some of the crosslinks, the channels bearing these crosslinks were transported to the cell surface and were functional. These experiments were performed in a pWT background, in whichFigure 5. Disulfide bond formation between R20C flanking S0 and W203C in S4. (A) Intact cells transfected with BK aR20C/W203C were treated and analyzed as in Fig. 4. The extents of crosslinking, corrected for the efficiencies of HRV-3C cleavage, are shown below the blots. N = 2. (B) Normalized G-V curves of R20C/W203C either untreated (black), after 10 mM DTT for 5 min (red), after DTT and 40 mM QPD for 2 min, applied in the closed state (filled green diamond), or after DTT and QPD applied in the open state (open green diamond). Fits of a Boltzmann equation were to the means and SD of normalized conductances from separate patches. The dashed line indicates the G-V curve of pWT1 a channels. The pipette solution contained 10 mM Ca2+. N = 3?. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0058335.gOrientations and Proximities of BK a S0 and SFigure 6. Competition between W203C in S4 and L157C in TM2 for crosslinking to W22C in S0. (A) Cells were transfected with indicated a and b1 subunit mutants. In A, the extent of formation of disulfide-crosslinked a and b1 was determined. In B and C, the extent of formation of an intra-a-subunit disulfide between S0 and S4 was determined. In all cases, three conditions as described in Fig. 4 were analyzed: untreated, reduced with DTT, and reduced with DTT and reoxidized with QPD.Ts for ,75 of all a (Fig. 6A, lane 1). This crosslink is reducible by DTT and can be substantially reformed on the cell surface with QPD (Fig. 6A, lanes 2 and 3). In the simultaneous presence of W203C, however, very little a- b1 is crosslinked either endogenously or by QPD after reduction by DTT (Fig. 6A, lanes 4?). By contrast, W22C and W203C are endogenously crosslinked just as extenOrientations and Proximities of BK a S0 and SFigure 4. Extents of disulfide bond formation between Cys in S0 and Cys in S4. (A ) Cells were transfected with the indicated double-Cysmutant BK a. After 2 days, the cells were collected, and biotinylated with the impermeant sulfo-NHS-biotin. The cells were divided and were either not further treated, treated with 10 mM DTT, or treated with 10 mM DTT and 40 mM QPD. The conditions were the same as in Fig. 
2. Cells were lysed. Solubilized BK a was captured on Neutravidin beads, cleaved with HRV-3c protease between S0 and S1, electrophoresed, and immuno-blotted with an anti-BK a-C-terminal-epitope antibody. The extents of crosslinking were calculated from the relative integrated densities of the full-length a band and the truncated (Frag) a band, corrected by the efficiency of HRV-3c cleavage, determined individually for each Cys pair in each experiment (not shown). The efficiencies of cleavage were approximately 70 . N = 2?. Mean + SD. N = 2? experiments, each with duplicate determinations. * P,0.05, **P,0.01, *** P,0.001, ****, P, 0.0001 by one-way Anova followed by Tukey’s post-hoc analysis. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0058335.gto protein disulfide isomerases (PDIs) in the endoplasmic reticulum, these also function as chaperones and 23727046 could promote some abstraction of the helices from the membrane and their partial unfolding [22]. QPD on the other hand is a relatively bulky, doubly positively charged reagent, which is unlikely tospend much time in a hydrophobic and/or crowded environment. Despite the deviations the preferred structures required by some of the crosslinks, the channels bearing these crosslinks were transported to the cell surface and were functional. These experiments were performed in a pWT background, in whichFigure 5. Disulfide bond formation between R20C flanking S0 and W203C in S4. (A) Intact cells transfected with BK aR20C/W203C were treated and analyzed as in Fig. 4. The extents of crosslinking, corrected for the efficiencies of HRV-3C cleavage, are shown below the blots. N = 2. (B) Normalized G-V curves of R20C/W203C either untreated (black), after 10 mM DTT for 5 min (red), after DTT and 40 mM QPD for 2 min, applied in the closed state (filled green diamond), or after DTT and QPD applied in the open state (open green diamond). Fits of a Boltzmann equation were to the means and SD of normalized conductances from separate patches. The dashed line indicates the G-V curve of pWT1 a channels. The pipette solution contained 10 mM Ca2+. N = 3?. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0058335.gOrientations and Proximities of BK a S0 and SFigure 6. Competition between W203C in S4 and L157C in TM2 for crosslinking to W22C in S0. (A) Cells were transfected with indicated a and b1 subunit mutants. In A, the extent of formation of disulfide-crosslinked a and b1 was determined. In B and C, the extent of formation of an intra-a-subunit disulfide between S0 and S4 was determined. In all cases, three conditions as described in Fig. 4 were analyzed: untreated, reduced with DTT, and reduced with DTT and reoxidized with QPD.