Free-energy landscape of ion-channel voltage-sensor-domain activation.

ABSTRACT: Voltage sensor domains (VSDs) are membrane-bound protein modules that confer voltage sensitivity to membrane proteins. VSDs sense changes in the transmembrane voltage and convert the electrical signal into a conformational change called activation. Activation involves a reorganization of the membrane protein charges that is detected experimentally as transient currents. These so-called gating currents have been investigated extensively within the theoretical framework of so-called discrete-state Markov models (DMMs), whereby activation is conceptualized as a series of transitions across a discrete set of states. Historically, the interpretation of DMM transition rates in terms of transition state theory has been instrumental in shaping our view of the activation process, whose free-energy

SUBMITTER: Delemotte L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4291615 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature