A Microscopic Capacitor Model of Voltage Coupling in Membrane Proteins: Gating Charge Fluctuations in Ci-VSD.

ABSTRACT: The voltage sensitivity of membrane proteins is reflected in the response of the voltage sensing domains (VSDs) to the changes in membrane potential. This response is implicated in the displacement of positively charged residues, associated with the conformational changes of VSDs. The displaced charges generate nonlinear (i.e., voltage-dependent) capacitance current called the gating current (and its corresponding gating charge), which is a key experimental quantity that characterizes voltage activation in VSMP. However, the relevant theoretical/computational approaches, aimed to correlate the structural information on VSMP to electrophysiological measurements, have been rather limited, posing a broad challenge in computer simulations of VSMP. Concomitant with the development of our coarse

SUBMITTER: Kim I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4921215 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature