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Do Bistable Steric Poisson-Nernst-Planck Models Describe Single-Channel Gating?
Nir Gavish1, Chun Liu2, Bob Eisenberg2,3
1Department of Mathematics , Technion-Israel Institute of Technology , Haifa 3200003 , Israel.
The Journal of Physical Chemistry. B
|May 2, 2018
Summary
This study tested if noise causes ion channel gating. The Poisson-Nernst-Planck model showed gating-like behavior, but noise actually prevented switching, suggesting new models are needed for ion channel dynamics.
Area of Science:
- Biophysics
- Computational Biology
- Physical Chemistry
Background:
- Single protein channels exhibit unstable currents due to gating, switching between open and closed states.
- Current theories primarily focus on the open state, neglecting the dynamics of transitions and open-state durations.
- Understanding ion channel gating is crucial for explaining biological transport phenomena.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test the hypothesis that ion channel gating arises from noise-induced transitions between multiple steady states.
- To investigate the suitability of the (high-order) steric Poisson-Nernst-Planck (PNP)-Cahn-Hilliard model for describing ion channel gating dynamics.
- To explore the role of noise in the switching behavior of ion channels.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the (high-order) steric Poisson-Nernst-Planck (PNP)-Cahn-Hilliard model, known for predicting open-state channel properties.
- Simulated channel behavior to observe transitions between multiple steady states.
- Analyzed the impact of noise on the switching dynamics within the model.
Main Results:
- The PNP-Cahn-Hilliard model exhibited gating-like switching behavior.
- Key features of the observed switching differed from biological ion channel gating.
- Noise was found to inhibit, rather than induce, switching in the studied system.
Conclusions:
- The hypothesis that noise-induced transitions drive gating in this model was not supported.
- Existing PNP-type models may be insufficient to explain spontaneous ion channel gating.
- Beyond overdamped Nernst-Planck dynamics are likely required to fully capture ion channel gating phenomena.
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