Figure 7: Cartoon of a putative repulsive electrostatic interaction between Phe481 and Glu395 in the channel open state.
From: A novel mechanism for fine-tuning open-state stability in a voltage-gated potassium channel
Cartoon of the pore forming helices of two opposing potassium channel subunits in the closed (upper panel) and open (lower panel) conformation, respectively. VSD stands for voltage-sensor domain. The close proximity of the Glu395 carboxyl and the Phe481 aromatic moiety in the open state are highlighted by the red oval; the electrostatic repulsion between the two is symbolized by the red arrows. The blue dots represent potassium ions along the permeation pathway. Note that for reasons of simplicity the model depicts an intrasubunit interaction between Glu395 and Phe481, while in the full-length channel the shortest distance between Glu395 and Phe481 is between adjacent subunits, thus indicating an intersubunit interaction.
