Force field sensitivity of ion occupancy in potassium channels.

ABSTRACT: Potassium ion channels are responsible for the rapid selective conduction of K⁺ ions through the cellular membrane. In 1955, Hodgkin and Keynes showed that K⁺ channel conduction occurs via a multi-ion process in which two to three ions diffuse in single file along a narrow pore. This process is now commonly referred to as the "knock-on" mechanism. The availability of the crystallographic structure of the KcsA channel at atomic resolution nearly 50 years later made it possible to examine the ion conduction mechanism at the atomic level, prompting multiple molecular dynamics simulation studies. Two multi-ion conduction mechanisms have emerged from the initial knock-on proposal, whereby ion conduction occurs via the translocation of a single file of alternating K^+</

SUBMITTER: Mendoza Uriarte R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12723877 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature