Figure 1.

Representative 1-min current traces from a lipid bilayer experiment in the presence or absence of purified protein and/or oligonucleotide. Purified protein functioned as a gated channel when reconstituted in lipid bilayers and channel activity was observed only when both protein and oligonucleotide were present in the bilayer system. (A) Current trace, obtained at a holding potential of +100 mV, after formation of a lipid bilayer in the absence of both purified protein and oligonucleotide. The lipid bilayer alone was electrically stable and without channel activity. (B) Current trace, obtained at a holding potential of +100 mV, after the addition of NAC-PLs but not oligonucleotide. After the addition of NAC-PLs alone the bilayer remained stable without evidence of channel activity. The bilayer also remained stable after the addition of oligonucleotide in the absence of NAC-PLs (data not shown). (C) Current trace, obtained at a holding potential of +100 mV, after addition of both NAC-PLs and 5 μM Oligo. In the presence of both purified protein and oligonucleotide, channel activity was observed with clear transitions between open and closed states.