Ion channels can be allosterically regulated by membrane domains near a de-mixing critical point.

ABSTRACT: Ion channels are embedded in the plasma membrane, a compositionally diverse two-dimensional liquid that has the potential to exert profound influence on their function. Recent experiments suggest that this membrane is poised close to an Ising critical point, below which cell-derived plasma membrane vesicles phase separate into coexisting liquid phases. Related critical points have long been the focus of study in simplified physical systems, but their potential roles in biological function have been underexplored. Here we apply both exact and stochastic techniques to the lattice Ising model to study several ramifications of proximity to criticality for idealized lattice channels, whose function is coupled through boundary interactions to critical fluctuations of membrane composition. Becaus

SUBMITTER: Kimchi O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6279359 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature