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Updated: Jul 21, 2026

One-channel Cell-attached Patch-clamp Recording
Published on: June 9, 2014
Bead-like passage of chloride ions through ClC chloride channels
Atsushi Suenaga1, Jay Z Yeh, Makoto Taiji
1Bioinformatics Group, RIKEN Genomic Sciences Center, 61-1 Ono, Tsurumi, Yokohama, Kanagawa 230-0046, Japan.
Abstract:
The ClC chloride channels control the ionic composition of the cytoplasm and the volume of cells, and regulate electrical excitability. Recently, it has been proposed that prokaryotic ClC channels are H+-Cl- exchange transporter. Although X-ray and molecular dynamics (MD) studies of bacterial ClC channels have investigated the filter open-close and ion permeation mechanism of channels, details have remained unclear. We performed MD simulations of ClC channels involving H+, Na+, K+, or H3O+ in the intracellular region to elucidate the open-close mechanism, and to clarify the role of H+ ion an H+-Cl- exchange transporter. Our simulations revealed that H+ and Na+ caused channel opening and the passage of Cl- ions. Na+ induced a bead-like string of Cl- -Na+-Cl--Na+-Cl- ions to form and permeate through ClC channels to the intracellular side with the widening of the channel pathway.
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