Potassium channels can become nonconducting via inactivation at a gate inside the highly conserved selectivity filter (SF) region near the extracellular side of the membrane. In certain ligand-gated ...

Potassium channels are responsible for the selective permeation of K⁺ ions across cell membranes. K⁺ ions permeate in single file through the selectivity filter, a narrow pore lined by backbone ...

Tetrameric cation channels are the largest and best characterized group of ion channels. For this type of ion channel, the ion pathway lies in a pore domain consisting of two transmembrane helices ...

Scientists recently completed a study in which they attempted to capture at atomic resolution a picture/snapshot of one of the two ion-bound configuration that seem to coexist within the selectivity ...

The design of new calcium channels, built bottom-up from scratch, was reported last week in Nature. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest sci-tech news updates. Ion channels generate electrical ...

Ion selectivity is an important property of cell membrane ion channels. For example, potassium ion channels are more permeable to potassium ions than to sodium ions. The mechanism underlying the ready ...

Larger K+ (ionic radius: 1.3 Å) can selectively permeate larger Na + (ionic radius: 1.0 Å) through biological potassium ion channels, with selectivity ratios greater than 1000-fold. Scientists have ...

In every living cell, from free-living bacterium to neurons in the human brain, highly specialized small conduits, known as potassium (K+) channels, are responsible for unparalleled selective and ...