Related papers: Tuning ion coordination preferences to enable sele…
We investigate the possible influence of poly unsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in the lipid bilayer of cell membranes on the conduction properties of the selectivity filter of voltage gated ion channels. Any change of this conductivity can…
Ion-selective channels play a key role in physiological processes and are used in many technologies. While biological channels can efficiently separate same-charge ions with similar hydration shells, it remains a challenge to mimic such…
The hydration structure of Ba^{2+} ion is important for understanding blocking mechanisms in potassium ion channels. Here, we combine statistical mechanical theory, ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, and electronic structure methods…
A simple pillbox model with two adjustable parameters accounts for the selectivity of both DEEA Ca channels and DEKA Na channels in many ionic solutions of different composition and concentration. Only the side chains are different in the…
Ions transiting biomembranes might pass readily from water through ion-specific membrane proteins if those protein channels provide environments similar to the aqueous solution hydration environment. Indeed, bulk aqueous solution is an…
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…
Extensive molecular dynamics simulations of water permeation and ion selectivity of the single-walled carbon nanotubes with the radial deformation are presented . The simulated results indicate that there is a close relationship between the…
Partitioning and transport of water and small solutes into and through nanopores is important to a variety of chemical and biological processes and applications. Here we study the partitioning of positive ions of increasing size into the…
We present an equilibrium statistical-mechanical theory of selectivity in biological ion channels. In doing so, we introduce a grand canonical ensemble for ions in a channel's selectivity filter coupled to internal and external bath…
The Hurst effect in the signals describing ion channels' activity has been known for many years. This effect is present in the experimental recordings of single-channel currents, but not only. The sequences of dwell times of functionally…
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…
We employ molecular dynamics simulations to investigate ion and water transport driven by an electric field through quasi-two-dimensional nanoslits with a tapered geometry. Despite the absence of surface charge on the channel walls and the…
Ion channels selectively transport ions, yet the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. We propose a physical model based on the Driven Damped Harmonic Oscillator (DDHO), where self-organizing turbulent structures in the ionic flow generate…
We revisit the theory of ion transport in parallel-plate channels and also discuss how the wettability of a solid and the mobility of adsorbed surface charges impact the transport of ions. It is shown that depending on the ratio of the…
Assuming that the selectivity filter of KcsA potassium ion channel may exhibit quantum coherence, we extend a previous model by Vaziri and Plenio (2010) to take into account Coulomb repulsion between potassium ions. We show that typical ion…
The conduction and selectivity of calcium/sodium ion channels are described in terms of ionic Coulomb blockade, a phenomenon based on charge discreteness and an electrostatic model of an ion channel. This novel approach provides a unified…
The study of selection and gating in potassium channels is a very important issue in modern biology. Indeed such structures are known in all types of cells in all organisms where they play many important functional roles. The mechanism of…
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…
Ion transport through narrow water--filled channels is impeded by a high electrostatic barrier. The latter originates from the large ratio of the dielectric constants of the water and a surrounding media. We show that ``doping'', i.e.…