Nature Communications (Oct 2018)

Anomalous X-ray diffraction studies of ion transport in K+ channels

  • Patricia S. Langan,
  • Venu Gopal Vandavasi,
  • Kevin L. Weiss,
  • Pavel V. Afonine,
  • Kamel el Omari,
  • Ramona Duman,
  • Armin Wagner,
  • Leighton Coates

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06957-w
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 5

Abstract

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The number of K+ occupied binding sites in the selectivity filter of potassium ion channels is still under debate. Here, the authors collect diffraction data on the K+ selective NaK channel NaK2K at a wavelength of 3.35 Å, close to the K absorption edge, revealing that all four binding sites in the selectivity filter are fully occupied by K+ ions.