Location of the potassium channel KcsA in the cell membrane of bacteria. The schematic illustration on the right shows the changes in strength and direction of vibrational coupling inside the filter depending on the ion species, as found by the study (Copyright: David S. Goodsell & RCSB Protein Data Bank).
Scientists from the Vaziri lab at the Vienna Biocenter (Austria), together with colleagues at the Institute for Biophysical Dynamics at the University of Chicago, have developed a method using infrared spectroscopy and atomistic modeling that would allow to better understand the mechanism behind the extreme ion selectivity and transport properties in ion channels. Their findings have recently been published in "The Journal of Physical Chemistry B". Ion channels are essential structures of life. Ion channels are specialized pores in the cell membrane and move charged atoms known as ions in and out of cells, thereby controlling a wide variety of biological processes including brain function and heartbeat. Ion channels are generally selective for certain ions, allowing specific types of ions to flow through at very high rates, while hindering the flow of others. On the basis of this selective permeability, ion channels are classified as potassium channels, sodium channels, etc. The cell's most ubiquitous gateways are potassium ion channels - the importance of this type of ion channels was underpinned in 2003 when Roderick MacKinnon received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for resolving the first atomic structure of the bacterial KcsA potassium channel.
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