A stochastic model of ion channel cluster formation in the plasma membrane.

ABSTRACT: Ion channels are often found arranged into dense clusters in the plasma membranes of excitable cells, but the mechanisms underlying the formation and maintenance of these functional aggregates are unknown. Here, we tested the hypothesis that channel clustering is the consequence of a stochastic self-assembly process and propose a model by which channel clusters are formed and regulated in size. Our hypothesis is based on statistical analyses of the size distributions of the channel clusters we measured in neurons, ventricular myocytes, arterial smooth muscle, and heterologous cells, which in all cases were described by exponential functions, indicative of a Poisson process (i.e., clusters form in a continuous, independent, and memory-less fashion). We were able to reproduce the observed cl

SUBMITTER: Sato D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6719406 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature