The Role of Proton Transport in Gating Current in a Voltage Gated Ion Channel, as Shown by Quantum Calculations.

ABSTRACT: Over two-thirds of a century ago, Hodgkin and Huxley proposed the existence of voltage gated ion channels (VGICs) to carry Na⁺ and K⁺ ions across the cell membrane to create the nerve impulse, in response to depolarization of the membrane. The channels have multiple physiological roles, and play a central role in a wide variety of diseases when they malfunction. The first channel structure was found by MacKinnon and coworkers in 1998. Subsequently, the structure of a number of VGICs was determined in the open (ion conducting) state. This type of channel consists of four voltage sensing domains (VSDs), each formed from four transmembrane (TM) segments, plus a pore domain through which ions move. Understanding the gating mechanism (how the channel opens and closes) requires structures. One T

SUBMITTER: Kariev AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6163810 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature