Assessing the Role of Electrostatic Interactions in the Mechanism of Beta-Barrel Channel Gating

Abstract

β-barrel membrane protein channels are large, but tightly regulated, pores responsible for the passive diffusion of ions and metabolites between cells and across cell compartments. Contrary to the highly ion-selective channels studied in neurophysiology, which have narrow selectivity filters to match the size of partially dehydrated ions, β-barrel channels are key for the translocation of larger compounds, including ADP and ATP molecules across the outer mitochondrial membrane and antibiotics across the outer membrane of bacteria.