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Keeping K+ completely comfortable

Nature Structural Biology volume 8, pages 1011–1013 (2001)Cite this article

Ion channel proteins provide a pathway for movement of ions across the hostile, low-dielectric environment of the membrane. New work on crystalline bacterial K+ channels shows that this process is optimized for the natural substrate, K+. An additional high resolution structure of the channel illustrates how the protein provides prosthetic solvation for the ion — and also a beautiful picture of how water itself solvates the ion.

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Figure 1: A composite stereo view of the structure of the KcsA bacterial K+ channel, highlighting the ion binding sites.
Figure 2: Alternative conformations of the selectivity filter.

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  1. the Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, MA, 02115, Boston

    Gary Yellen

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  1. Gary Yellen
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Correspondence to Gary Yellen.

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Yellen, G. Keeping K+ completely comfortable. Nat Struct Mol Biol 8, 1011–1013 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsb1201-1011

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