A single NaK channel conformation is not enough for non-selective ion conduction

Chaowei Shi, Yao He, Kitty Hendriks, Bert L. de Groot, Xiaoying Cai, Changlin Tian (), Adam Lange () and Han Sun ()
Additional contact information
Chaowei Shi: Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie
Yao He: University of Science and Technology of China
Kitty Hendriks: Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie
Bert L. de Groot: Biomolecular Dynamics Group, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry
Xiaoying Cai: University of Science and Technology of China
Changlin Tian: University of Science and Technology of China
Adam Lange: Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie
Han Sun: Section Structural Biology, Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract NaK and other non-selective channels are able to conduct both sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) with equally high efficiency. In contrast to previous crystallographic results, we show that the selectivity filter (SF) of NaK in native-like lipid membranes adopts two distinct conformations that are stabilized by either Na+ or K+ ions. The atomic differences of these conformations are resolved by solid-state NMR (ssNMR) spectroscopy and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Besides the canonical K+ permeation pathway, we identify a side entry ion-conduction pathway for Na+ permeation unique to NaK. Moreover, under otherwise identical conditions ssNMR spectra of the K+ selective NaK mutant (NaK2K) reveal only a single conformational state. Therefore, we propose that structural plasticity within the SF and the selection of these conformations by different ions are key molecular determinants for highly efficient conduction of different ions in non-selective cation channels.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03179-y Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-03179-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03179-y

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().