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Updated: Feb 24, 2026

Controllable Ion Channel Expression through Inducible Transient Transfection
Published on: February 17, 2017
Combinatorial Evolution of Fast-Conducting Highly Selective K+-Channels via Modularly Tunable Directional Assembly of
Changliang Ren1, Jie Shen1, Huaqiang Zeng1
1Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology , 31 Biopolis Way, The Nanos, Singapore 138669.
Abstract:
We describe here a modularly tunable molecular strategy for construction and combinatorial optimization of highly efficient K+-selective channels. In our strategy, a highly robust supramolecular H-bonded 1D ensemble was used to order the appended crown ethers in such a way that they roughly stack on top of each other to form a channel for facilitated ion transport across the membrane. Among 15 channels that all prefer K+ over Na+ ions, channel molecule 5F8 shows the most pronounced optimum for K+ while disfavoring all other biologically important cations (e.g., Na+, Ca2+ and Mg2+). With a K+/Na+ selectivity of 9.8 and an EC50 value of 6.2 μM for K+ ion, 5F8 is clearly among the best synthetic potassium channels developed over the past decades.
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