Cell Culture
HEK293 cells were cultured in minimum essential medium (MEM, Invitrogen, Cat. No. 11095080) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (Thermo Fisher, Cat. No. SH30070.03). HEK293 cells stably expressing the hERG 1a subunit alone were cultured in MEM supplemented with 5 mg/mL of G418 (Thermo Fisher, Cat. No. 11811031). HEK293 cells stably co-expressing hERG 1a and hERG 1b were cultured in MEM medium supplemented with 5 mg/mL of G418 and 0.25 mg/mL of puromycin (Clontech, Cat. 631306). hERG 1b was expressed on demand, using the Tet-One system by Takara (Clontech, Cat. No. 634301). We induced hERG 1b protein expression using 100 mg/ml doxycycline 48 hours prior to recording. Details on the development and maintenance of this cell line were published previously39.
Electrophysiology
All recordings were completed at either room temperature (RT) or near physiological temperature (36 ± 1°C) using whole-cell patch clamp with an Axon 200A amplifier and Clampex (Molecular Devices). Leak subtraction was performed off-line based on measured current observed at potentials negative to hERG 1 activation. The inter-pulse duration for all recordings was 10 seconds.
Ionic Recordings
Data were sampled at 10 kHz and low-pass filtered at 1 kHz. Cells were perfused with extracellular solution containing (in mM): 150 NaCl, 5.4 KCl, 1.8 CaCl2, 1 MgCl2, 15 glucose, 10 HEPES, 1 Na-pyruvate, and titrated to pH 7.4 using NaOH. Recording pipettes had resistances of 2-4.5 MW when backfilled with intracellular solution containing (in mM): 5 NaCl, 150 KCl, 2 CaCl2, 5 EGTA, 10 HEPES, 5 MgATP and titrated to pH 7.2 using KOH. We supplemented the intracellular solution with scFv antibodies at 10 mM to measure the effects of the antibodies. Intracellular solution aliquots were kept frozen until the day of recording. The intracellular solution was kept on ice during recordings and discarded 2-3 hours post-thaw.
To assess the voltage dependence of hERG 1 activation, cells were stepped from a -80 mV holding potential to a 400 millisecond pre-pulse between -100 and +50 mV in 10 mV increments. Tail currents were then measured during a -50 mV, 3 second test pulse. To assess the voltage dependence of hERG 1 deactivation, cells were stepped from a -80 mV holding potential to a +50 mV conditioning pulse for 400 ms before stepping to a 400 ms pre-pulse potential between +50 and -110 mV. Tail currents were then measured during a -50 mV, 3 second test pulse. To describe the voltage dependence of activation or deactivation, peak tail current was normalized to cellular capacitance, plotted as a function of pre-pulse potential, and fitted with the following Boltzmann equation:

where A1 and A2 represent the maximum and minimums of the fit, respectively, V is the membrane potential, V0 is the midpoint, and k is the slope factor.
Gating Currents
Data were sampled at 20 kHz and low-pass filtered at 10 kHz. Cells were perfused with extracellular solution containing (in mM): 140 NMDG, 10 HEPES, 10 dextrose, 1 MgCl2, 1 CaCl2, and titrated to pH 7.4 using HCl. Recording pipettes had resistances of 4-7.5 MW when backfilled with intracellular solution containing (in mM): 140 TEA-OH, 1 MgCl2, 10 EGTA, and 10 HEPES, adjusted to pH 7.2 using HF. We supplemented the intracellular solution with scFv antibodies at 10 mM to measure the effects of the antibodies. The intracellular solution was kept on ice during recordings.
Following membrane rupture, cells were maintained at -100 mV for five minutes to allow the pipette solution to fully diffuse into the cell. Capacitance transients were compensated manually at -120 mV using a +20 mV test pulse at maximal gain. The capacitance transient was checked after each recording to ensure that it had remained constant. We discarded recordings where the capacitance transient compensation did not remain constant. To assess the voltage dependence of hERG 1 voltage sensor activation, cells were stepped from a -100 mV holding potential to a 400 millisecond pulse between -120 and +50 mV in 10 mV increments. To assess the voltage dependence of hERG 1 voltage sensor deactivation, cells were stepped from a -100 mV holding potential to a +50 mV conditioning pulse for 400 ms before stepping to a 400 ms pre-pulse potential between +50 and -120 mV.
To describe the voltage dependence of voltage sensor activation or deactivation, the integral of gating currents elicited during each test pulse were plotted as a function of test potential, and fitted with either a single Boltzmann equation (Eq. 1) or a double Boltzmann equation:

where A1 is the relative amplitude of transition 1, A2 is the relative amplitude of transition 2, A3 is the minimum of the fit, V is the membrane potential, V1 and V2 are the respective midpoints of each transition, and k1 and k2 are the respective slope factors of each transition. We derived the VMedian for each charge versus voltage (QV) curve by measuring the area between the curve and the ordinate (Q) axis as described by Chowdhury and Chanda36, where the area between the curve and the Q axis is calculated using the trapezoid method:

where Vi is the ith point on the QV curve and Qi is the fraction of charge that is transferred at Vi.
Ionic and gating current kinetics were assessed by fitting current decay during the test pulse with a single or a double exponential function:

where Y0 is the asymptote, A1 and A2 are the relative components of the fast and slow time constants t1 and t2, respectively.
Statistical Analysis
Analysis was completed using Clampfit (Molecular Devices) and Origin (OriginLab). All data are reported as mean ± SEM and were compared using a Student’s t-tests. When applicable, an ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc t-tests where used. Statistical significance was taken at p < 0.05. Data points greater than two times the standard deviation were termed outliers and excluded from analysis.
Data Availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.