Channel gate! Tension, leak and disclosure

The crystal structure of a bacterial MscL shows how this homopentameric channel protein is held tightly shut to prevent leakage whilst at rest. By inference, the structure also shows how a stretch force in the lipid bilayer causes the channel to open. We now have a concrete picture as to how a stimu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Structure 1999-05, Vol.7 (5), p.R99-R103
Main Authors: Batiza, Ann Finney, Rayment, Ivan, Kung, Ching
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino Acid Sequence
biochemistry
cell biology
Escherichia coli Proteins
Ion Channel Gating
Ion Channels - chemistry
Molecular Sequence Data
Protein Conformation
structural biology
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Summary:The crystal structure of a bacterial MscL shows how this homopentameric channel protein is held tightly shut to prevent leakage whilst at rest. By inference, the structure also shows how a stretch force in the lipid bilayer causes the channel to open. We now have a concrete picture as to how a stimulus ‘gates’ an ion channel.
ISSN:0969-2126
1878-4186
DOI:10.1016/S0969-2126(99)80061-6