Capturing Functional Motions of Membrane Channels and Transporters with Molecular Dynamics Simulation.

ABSTRACT: Conformational changes of proteins are involved in all aspects of protein function in biology. Almost all classes of proteins respond to changes in their environment, ligand binding, and interaction with other proteins and regulatory agents through undergoing conformational changes of various degrees and magnitudes. Membrane channels and transporters are the major classes of proteins that are responsible for mediating efficient and selective transport of materials across the cellular membrane. Similar to other proteins, they take advantage of conformational changes to make transitions between various functional states. In channels, large-scale conformational changes are mostly involved in the process of "gating", i.e., opening and closing of the pore of the channel protein in response to v

SUBMITTER: Shaikh S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3661405 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature