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Title: K+ block is the mechanism of functional asymmetry in bacterial Nav channels

Journal Article · · PLoS Computational Biology (Online)
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States); Univ. of Calgary, Calgary, AB (Canada)
  2. Univ. of Calgary, Calgary, AB (Canada)
  3. Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
  4. Weill Medical College of Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Crystal structures of several bacterial Nav channels have been recently published and molecular dynamics simulations of ion permeation through these channels are consistent with many electrophysiological properties of eukaryotic channels. Bacterial Nav channels have been characterized as functionally asymmetric, and the mechanism of this asymmetry has not been clearly understood. To address this question, we combined non-equilibrium simulation data with two-dimensional equilibrium unperturbed landscapes generated by umbrella sampling and Weighted Histogram Analysis Methods for multiple ions traversing the selectivity filter of bacterial NavAb channel. This approach provided new insight into the mechanism of selective ion permeation in bacterial Nav channels. The non-equilibrium simulations indicate that two or three extracellular K+ ions can block the entrance to the selectivity filter of NavAb in the presence of applied forces in the inward direction, but not in the outward direction. The block state occurs in an unstable local minimum of the equilibrium unperturbed free-energy landscape of two K+ ions that can be ‘locked’ in place bymodest applied forces. In contrast to K+, three Na+ ions move favorably through the selectivity filter together as a unit in a loose “knock-on” mechanism of permeation in both inward and outward directions, and there is no similar local minimum in the two-dimensional free-energy landscape of two Na+ ions for a block state. The useful work predicted by the non-equilibrium simulations that is required to break the K+ block is equivalent to large applied potentials experimentally measured for two bacterial Nav channels to induce inward currents of K+ ions. Here, these results illustrate how inclusion of non-equilibrium factors in the simulations can provide detailed information about mechanisms of ion selectivity that is missing from mechanisms derived from either crystal structures or equilibrium unperturbed free-energy landscapes.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
FG03-01ER45908
OSTI ID:
1242974
Journal Information:
PLoS Computational Biology (Online), Vol. 12, Issue 1; ISSN 1553-7358
Publisher:
Public Library of ScienceCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 9 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (2)

Bases of Bacterial Sodium Channel Selectivity Among Organic Cations journal October 2019
Ion-triggered selectivity in bacterial sodium channels journal May 2018

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