Potassium channels can become nonconducting via inactivation at a gate inside the highly conserved selectivity filter (SF) region near the extracellular side of the membrane. In certain ligand-gated ...

They found that for the mutants displaying calcium blocking, one or two calcium ions are located at the bottom of the selectivity filter. They also discovered that magnesium (Mg 2+) and strontium (Sr ...

Scientists are now able to "see" a structure that acts as an atomic-size sorter for cells. Without it, many important life functions—nerve signal firing, heartbeat, hormone secretion—could not occur.

Anu Tyagi, Tofayel Ahmed, Shi Jian, Saumya Bajaj, Seow Theng Ong, Stephanie Shee Min Goay, Yue Zhao, Igor Vorobyov, Changlin Tian, K. George Chandy, Shashi Bhushan Proceedings of the National Academy ...

Aquaglyceroporin Aqp10, a protein channel for water and glycerol, selectively permeates urea and boric acid due to its unique structural features—report researchers from Japan. By comparing and ...