Voltage gating of hyperpolarization-activated cation (HCN) channels is potentiated by direct binding of cAMP to a cytoplasmic cAMP-sensing domain (CSD). When unliganded, the CSD inhibits hyperpolarization-dependent opening of the HCN channel gate; cAMP binding relieves this autoinhibition so that opening becomes more favorable thermodynamically. This autoinhibition-relief mechanism is conserved with that of several other cyclic nucleotide receptors using the same ligand-binding fold. Besides its thermodynamic effect, cAMP also modulates the depolarization-dependent deactivation rate by kinetically that is formed by mode shift after prolonged hyperpolarization activation. This hysteretic activation-deactivation cycle is preserved by CSD substitution, but the change in deactivation kinetics of the liganded channel resulting from CSD substitution is not correlated with the change in autoinhibition properties. Thus the liganded and the unliganded forms of the CSD respectively provide the structural determinants for open-state trapping and autoinhibition, such that two distinct mechanisms for cAMP regulation can operate in one receptor. HCN channels are tetramers of homologous subunits; each subunit has six membrane-spanning helices (S1-S6) homologous to those of voltage-gated potassium channels, with a voltagesensing domain in S1-S4 (4). Hyperpolarization drives inward movement of the positively charged S4 (5), which is coupled to opening of the pore gate formed by the cytoplasmic C-terminal ends of the four S6 helices in the tetramer (6). S6 in each subunit is followed by an 80-residue "C-linker" with an unusual multihelix fold (7), then the cAMP-binding fold and a poorly conserved "extreme C-terminal" region. The C-linker and cAMP-binding fold together can be viewed as one "cAMP-sensing domain" (CSD; see Fig. 1A, Top), based on domain stability (7) and the C-linker's functional importance (8).Cyclic AMP binding potentiates hyperpolarization-dependent activation of HCN channels (9). That is, cAMP increases thermodynamic stability of the open channel relative to the closed channel, so that the voltage needed for half-maximal activation (V 1∕2 ) becomes less negative. A similar V 1∕2 shift can be produced by deleting the CSD through enzymatic or genetic truncation (10, 11). This establishes a classical autoinhibition mechanism (12) as the basis for cAMP regulation of HCN channels, in analogy with PKA (13) and EPAC (14). Thus the unliganded ("apo") CSD inhibits an intrinsic activity of the channel, and the liganded ("holo") form of the CSD has weakened or nonexistent capability for this inhibition, so that cAMP binding mimics CSD deletion. Because the autoinhibition-relief model attributes specific regulatory function to the apo CSD rather than the holo CSD, we introduce the designation "apo-driven" for this mechanism type. In a "holo-driven" mechanism, by contrast, the presence of the CSD with bound ligand would be required for a particular HCN channel structure that achieves optimal activation. A holodriven mechanis...