Channel gate! Tension, leak and disclosure.
The crystal structure of a bacterial MscL shows how this homopentameric channel protein is held tightly shut to prevent leakage whilst at rest. By inference, the structure also shows how a stretch force in the lipid bilayer causes the channel to open. We now have a concrete picture as to how a stimulus 'gates' an ion channel.
Batiza
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Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706, USA.
Rayment
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Kung
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D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D015640:Ion Channel Gating; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000737:chemistry*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011487:Protein Conformation
D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D007473:Ion Channels; C086596:MscL protein, E coli