Related papers: Atomic Biology, Electrostatics, and Ionic Channels
Ions in water are the liquid of life. Life occurs almost entirely in 'salt water'. Water itself (without ions) is lethal to animal cells and damaging for most proteins. Water must contain the right ions in the right amounts if it is to…
A simple theory of ion permeation through a channel is presented, in which diffusion occurs according to Fick's law and drift according to Ohm's law, in the electric field determined by all the charges present. This theory accounts for…
We consider an anisotropically two-dimensional diffusion of a charged molecule (particle) through a large biological channel under an external voltage. The channel is modeled as a cylinder of three structure parameters: radius, length, and…
We consider a simple working hypothesis that all permeation properties of open ionic channels can be predicted by understanding electrodiffusion in fixed structures, without invoking conformation changes, or changes in chemical bonds. We…
Computation of biological processes creates great promise for everyday life and great challenges for physical scientists. Simulations of molecular dynamics appeal to biologists as a natural extension of structural biology. Once biologists…
Ion channels are proteins with a hole down the middle embedded in cell membranes. Membranes form insulating structures and the channels through them allow and control the movement of charged particles, spherical ions, mostly Na+, K+, Ca++,…
Network science provides a universal framework for modeling complex systems, contrasting the reductionist approach generally adopted in physics. In a prototypical study, we utilize network models created from spectroscopic data of atoms to…
Ion channels are specific proteins present in the membranes of living cells. They control the flow of specific ions through a cell, initiated by an ion channel's electrochemical gradient. In doing so, they control important physiological…
This is an early but comprehensive review of the PNP Poisson Nernst Planck theory of ion channels. Extensive reference is made to the earlier literature. The starting place for this theory of open channels is a theory of electrodiffusion…
To unveil the logic of cell from a level of chemical reaction dynamics, we need to clarify how ensemble of chemicals can autonomously produce the set of chemical, without assuming a specific external control echanism. A cell consists of a…
This article examines recent research in molecular communications from a telecommunications system design perspective. In particular, it focuses on channel models and state-of-the-art physical layer techniques. The goal is to provide a…
Classical molecular dynamics and electro-diffusion theories have achieved profound success in elucidating ion selectivity and gating mechanisms. However, reconciling strict selectivity with high flux permeation in Angstrom-scaled biological…
Potassium channels play critical roles in many physiological processes, providing a selective permeation route for K+ ions in and out of a cell, by employing a carefully designed selectivity filter, evolutionarily conserved from viruses to…
The movement of ionic solutions is an essential part of biology and technology. Fluidics, from nano- to micro- to microfluidics, is a burgeoning area of technology which is all about the movement of ionic solutions, on various scales. Many…
Ion channels are of major interest and form an area of intensive research in the fields of biophysics and medicine since they control many vital physiological functions. The aim of this work is on one hand to propose a fully stochastic and…
Membranes are ubiquitous in nature with primary functions that include adaptive filtering and selective transport of chemical and molecular species. Being critical to cellular functions, they are also fundamental in many areas of science…
Metabolic networks perform some of the most fundamental functions in living cells, including energy transduction and building block biosynthesis. While these are the best characterized networks in living systems, understanding their…
A model of mobile, charged ion channels in a fluid membrane is studied. The channels may switch between an open and a closed state according to a simple two-state kinetics with constant rates. The effective electrophoretic charge and the…
We develop a theoretical framework for the diffusion of a single unconstrained species of atoms on a crystal lattice that provides a generalization of the classical theories of atomic diffusion and diffusion-induced phase separation to…
We discuss various models of ion transport through cell membrane channels. Recent experimental data shows that sizes of ion channels are compared to those of ions and that only few ions may be simultaneously in any single channel.…