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Molecular Dynamics Simulations Of Kirbac1.1 Mutants Reveal Global Gating Changes Of Kir Channels, Tobias Linder, Shizhen Wang, Eva-Maria Zangerl-Plessl, Colin G Nichols, Anna Stary-Weinzinger

2010-2019 OA Pubs

Prokaryotic inwardly rectifying (KirBac) potassium channels are homologous to mammalian Kir channels. Their activity is controlled by dynamical conformational changes that regulate ion flow through a central pore. Understanding the dynamical rearrangements of Kir channels during gating requires high-resolution structure information from channels crystallized in different conformations and insight into the transition steps, which are difficult to access experimentally. In this study, we use MD simulations on wild type KirBac1.1 and an activatory mutant to investigate activation gating of KirBac channels. Full atomistic MD simulations revealed that introducing glutamate in position 143 causes significant widening at the helix bundle crossing …