KcsA钾离子通道导通钾离子的能力受水分子影响的分子模拟研究

钾离子通道可以选择性的导通钾离子,使其快速通过细胞膜.但是钾离子通过该通道时仍需要克服一定的能量壁垒.钾离子进入及溢出通道的难易程度可以用分子动力学模拟的方法来研究.钾离子通道对离子的高选择性及其快速导通钾离子的能力来源于其独特的离子选择性滤嘴结构.该结构决定了钾离子必须逐一通过.当一个钾离子进入滤嘴结构时,另一钾离子会随后进入.通常认为每两个钾离子中间会间隔一个水分子.那么水分子的存在和其在通道中的不同排列是否会影响钾离子通道对钾离子的导通能力?为解释这一问题,本文选取KcsA钾离子通道作为研究模型,用分子动力学模拟的方法研究了钾离子通过该通道时的难易程度与滤嘴结构内水分子排列的相关性.研究发现滤嘴结构内水分子的存在会影响其相邻钾离子的流动速度.由于水分子占据了钾离子在滤嘴内的结合位点,在一定程度上使得钾离子不易流向该位点,但同时水分子的存在又可以推动与其相邻的钾离子向前运动.因此水分子的作用具有双重性.     

The potassium channel KcsA and its interaction with the lipid bilayer

The crystal structure of the K⁺ channel KcsA explains many features of ion channel function. The selectivity filter corresponds to a narrow region about 12 Å long and 3 Å wide, lined by carbonyl groups of the peptide backbone, through which a K⁺ ion can only move in a dehydrated form. The selectivity filter opens into a central, water-filled cavity leading to a gating site on the intracellular side of the channel. The channel is tetrameric, each monomer containing two transmembrane a helices, M1 and M2. Helix M1 faces the lipid bilayer and helix M2 faces the central channel pore; the M2 helices participate in subunit-subunit interactions. Helices M1 and M2 in each subunit pack as a pair of antiparallel coils with a heptad repeat, but the M2 helices of neighbouring subunits show fewer interactions, crossing at an angle of about –40°. Trp residues at the ends of the transmembrane helices form clear girdles on the two faces of the membrane, which, together with girdles of charged residues, define a hydrophobic thickness of about 37 Å for the channel. Binding constants for phosphatidylcholines to KcsA vary with fatty acyl chain length, the optimum chain length being C22. A phosphatidylcholine with this chain length gives a bilayer of thickness about 34 Å in the liquid crystalline phase, matching the hydrophobic thickness of the protein. However, a typical biological membrane has a hydrophobic thickness of about 27 Å. Thus either the transmembrane a helices of KcsA are more tilted in the native membrane than they are in the crystal structure, or the channel is under stress in the native membrane. The efficiency of hydrophobic matching between KcsA and the surrounding lipid bilayer is high over the chain length range C10–C24. The channel requires the presence of some anionic lipids for function, and fluorescence quenching studies show the presence of two classes of lipid binding site on KcsA; at one class of site (nonannular sites) anionic phospholipids bind more strongly than phosphatidylcholine, whereas at the other class of site (annular sites) phosphatidylcholines and anionic phospholipids bind with equal affinity.     

KcsA一种新型的K离子通道

Declan A Doyle et al于1998年利用X射线结晶分析在Streptomyces lividans(变铅青链霉菌)中发现的KcsA(K^ conduction and selectivity architecture)是一种新型的K^ 通道。它由四个亚基组成，每个亚基含有两个α—螺旋，在KcsA的中央有一个选择性滤膜，对K^ 具有特殊的通透性。本文仅对KcsA的结构及其对K^ 选择性介导的作用机制进行综述。