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Final published version
Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Special issue
Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Special issue
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TY - GEN
T1 - Physics of ionic conduction in narrow biological and artificial channels
AU - McClintock, Peter V. E.
AU - Luchinsky, Dmitry
N1 - Delayed by Covid-19. Currently (18/02/2021) 11 papers published on-line, 2 more expected, and then the editorial introduction.
PY - 2021/5/21
Y1 - 2021/5/21
N2 - Biological ion channels are essential to life in all its forms. The key properties underlying their function are those of selectivity and conductivity—the ability to select between different kinds of ions, while allowing the favoured species to pass at nearly the rate of free diffusion. It is now appreciated that an understanding of selective conduction requires physics, and that the physics of biological ion channels has a great deal in common with that of artificial nanopores. In each case, there are intriguing analogies with the physics of quantum dots. Discovery of the atomic structures of many channels has brought significant progress, as has the building of subnanometer artificial channels and the experimental investigation of their selectivity and conduction; large-scale molecular dynamics simulations are yielding atomistic and statistical insights into many channel properties as a function of structure. However, the ability to predict the function of a channel from its structure, e.g., following a point mutation of a biological channel or the functionalization of a nanopore, remains elusive. Nonetheless, these recent advances have brought us tantalisingly close to a fundamental theory of ionic permeation, based on the statistical physics of ions within the channel. It promises to resolve the long-standing structure–function problem, thus enabling explicit current calculations for relatively complex structures. The Special Issue aims to bring together original high-quality papers on ionic permeation through narrow water-filled channels, both biological and artificial. It will include papers on the statistical physics of the process, on molecular dynamics and Brownian dynamics simulations, and on relevant experiments. The time is ripe for bringing these mutually complementary approaches together, and we anticipate that they will facilitate major breakthroughs enabling the design of nanopores to meet particular technological requirements as well as improvements in drug design.
AB - Biological ion channels are essential to life in all its forms. The key properties underlying their function are those of selectivity and conductivity—the ability to select between different kinds of ions, while allowing the favoured species to pass at nearly the rate of free diffusion. It is now appreciated that an understanding of selective conduction requires physics, and that the physics of biological ion channels has a great deal in common with that of artificial nanopores. In each case, there are intriguing analogies with the physics of quantum dots. Discovery of the atomic structures of many channels has brought significant progress, as has the building of subnanometer artificial channels and the experimental investigation of their selectivity and conduction; large-scale molecular dynamics simulations are yielding atomistic and statistical insights into many channel properties as a function of structure. However, the ability to predict the function of a channel from its structure, e.g., following a point mutation of a biological channel or the functionalization of a nanopore, remains elusive. Nonetheless, these recent advances have brought us tantalisingly close to a fundamental theory of ionic permeation, based on the statistical physics of ions within the channel. It promises to resolve the long-standing structure–function problem, thus enabling explicit current calculations for relatively complex structures. The Special Issue aims to bring together original high-quality papers on ionic permeation through narrow water-filled channels, both biological and artificial. It will include papers on the statistical physics of the process, on molecular dynamics and Brownian dynamics simulations, and on relevant experiments. The time is ripe for bringing these mutually complementary approaches together, and we anticipate that they will facilitate major breakthroughs enabling the design of nanopores to meet particular technological requirements as well as improvements in drug design.
KW - biological ion channel
KW - artificial nanopore
KW - Statistical Physics
KW - ionic Coulomb blockade
KW - fluctuations
KW - excess chemical potential
KW - potential of the mean force
KW - ionic dehydration barrier
KW - ionic binding energy
KW - effective grand canonical ensemble
KW - selectivity mechanism
KW - selectivity sequence
KW - linear response theory
KW - molecular dynamics simulations
KW - Brownian dynamics simulations
KW - drug design
KW - desalination
M3 - Special issue
VL - 23
JO - Entropy
JF - Entropy
SN - 1099-4300
ER -