Lipid trapping slows ball-and-chain inactivation in a calcium-activated potassium channel - PubMed
6 hours ago
- #Membrane biophysics
- #Ion channel inactivation
- #Potassium channels
- Lipid trapping slows inactivation in the MthK potassium channel, a homolog of BK channels, via N-terminal domain interactions.
- Inactivation speed decreases with thicker bilayers due to stronger arginine-lipid phosphate interactions, limiting N-terminal access to the pore.
- Pore size remains constant across bilayer thicknesses, ruling it out as a factor in the inactivation slowdown.
- Cryo-EM and molecular dynamics simulations confirm bilayer thickness influences inactivation independent of pore dimensions.