Related papers: Mechanosensitive ion channels: Old but new
Ion transporters in Nature exhibit a wealth of complex transport properties such as voltage gating, activation, and mechanosensitive behavior. When combined, such processes result in advanced ionic machines achieving active ion transport,…
We propose and study a model of hypothetical magnetosensitive ionic channels which are long thought to be a possible candidate to explain the influence of weak magnetic fields on living organisms ranging from magnetotactic bacteria to…
The interpretation electrical phenomena in biomembranes is usually based on the assumption that the experimentally found discrete ion conduction events are due to a particular class of proteins called ion channels while the lipid membrane…
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…
Voltage-activated ion channels vary randomly between open and closed states, influenced by the membrane potential and other factors. Signal transduction is enhanced by noise in a simple ion channel model. The enhancement occurs in a finite…
While modern structural biology has provided us with a rich and diverse picture of membrane proteins, the biological function of membrane proteins is often influenced by the mechanical properties of the surrounding lipid bilayer. Here we…
Recent advances in experimental and computational techniques have allowed for an accurate description of the adsorption of ionic liquids on metallic electrodes. It is now well established that they adopt a multi-layered structure, and that…
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…
Ions in channels have been imagined as hard balls in a macroscopic mechanical model, for a very long time. Hard balls interact by collisions in such models, randomly knocking each other on and off `binding' sites in thermal motion. But ions…
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…
Translocation properties of ionic channels are investigated, on the basis of classical electrostatics, with an emphasis on asymptotic formulas for the potential and field associated with a point charge in the channel. Due to image charges…
Hydroxide ion transport in anion-exchange membranes fundamentally limits the efficiency of alkaline water electrolysis for green hydrogen production, yet the atomic-scale transport mechanisms remain poorly understood due to the…
The motion of molecules across channels is critically important for understanding mechanisms of cellular processes. Here we investigate the mechanism of interactions in the molecular transport by analyzing exactly solvable discrete…
Information delivery via molecular signals is abundant in nature and potentially useful for industry sensing. Many propagation channels (e.g., tissue membranes and catalyst beds) contain porous medium materials and the impact this has on…
Membrane protein transporters alternate their substrate-binding sites between the extracellular and cytosolic side of the membrane according to the alternating access mechanism. Inspired by this intriguing mechanism devised by nature, we…
Polymer materials with low water uptake exhibit a highly heterogeneous interior, characterized by water clusters in the form of nanodroplets and nanochannels. Here, based on our recent insights from computer simulations, we argue that water…
Molecular communication is a biologically-inspired method of communication with attractive properties for microscale and nanoscale devices. In molecular communication, messages are transmitted by releasing a pattern of molecules at a…
The behaviour of a system of ion channels formed across the cell membrane is presented. The infinite number of channels with an infinite coupling is introduced first as a reference point for the detailed derivation of the…
Fluid and ionic transport at nanoscale recently highlighted a wealth of exotic behaviours. However, the artificial nanofluidic devices are still far from the advanced functionalities existing in biological systems, such as electrically and…
The transport of fluids at the nanoscale is fundamental to manifold biological and industrial processes, ranging from neurotransmission to ultrafiltration. Yet, it is only recently that well-controlled channels with cross-sections as small…