STIM1 gates the store-operated calcium channel ORAI1 in vitro

Store-operated Ca²⁺ entry through the plasma membrane Ca²⁺ release–activated Ca²⁺ (CRAC) channel in mammalian T cells and mast cells depends on the sensor protein stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1) and the channel subunit ORAI1. To study STIM1-ORAI1 signaling in vitro, we have expressed human ORAI1 in a sec6-4 strain of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and isolated sealed membrane vesicles carrying ORAI1 from the Golgi compartment to the plasma membrane. We show by in vitro Ca²⁺ flux assays that bacterially expressed recombinant STIM1 opens wild-type ORAI1 channels but not channels assembled from the ORAI1 pore mutant E106Q or the ORAI1 severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mutant R91W. These experiments show that the STIM1-ORAI1 interaction is sufficient to gate recombinant human ORAI1 channels in the absence of other proteins of the human ORAI1 channel complex, and they set the stage for further biochemical and biophysical dissection of ORAI1 channel gating.