A highly-selective biomimetic potassium channel  

作　　者：Junliang Zhu Hu Qiu Wanlin Guo 

机构地区：[1]Key Laboratory for Intelligent Nano Materials and Devices of the Ministry of Education,State Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control forAerospace Structures,Institute for Frontier Science,Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics,Nanjing 210016,China

出　　处：《National Science Review》2024年第8期181-189,共9页国家科学评论（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (T2293691,12172170 and 12322213);the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20212008,BK20221476 and BK20230029);the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2019YFA0705400);the Research Fund of National Key Laboratory of Mechanics and Control for Aerospace Structures (MCMS-I-0422K01 and MCASI-0124G01);the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (NC2023001,NJ2023002,NJ2022002 and NE2022001);the Fund of Prospective Layout of Scientific Research for Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA).

摘　　要：Reproducing the outstanding selectivity achieved by biological ion channels in artificial channel systems can revolutionize applications ranging from membrane filtration to single-molecule sensing technologies,but achieving this goal remains a challenge.Herein,inspired by the selectivity filter structure of the KcsA potassium channel,we propose a design of biomimetic potassium nanochannels by functionalizing the wall of carbon nanotubes with an array of arranged carbonyl oxygen atoms.Our extensive molecular dynamics simulations show that the biomimetic nanochannel exhibits a high K^(+)permeation rate along with a high K^(+)/Na^(+)selectivity ratio.The free energy calculations suggest that the low Na^(+)permeability is the result of the higher energy barrier for Na^(+)than K^(+)at the channel entrance and ion binding sites.In addition,reducing the number ofion binding sites leads to an increase in the permeation rate but a decrease in selectivity.These findings not only hold promise for the design of high-performance membranes but also help understand the mechanism of selective ion transport in biological ion channels.

关 键 词：biomimetic design carbon nanotube K^(+)/Na^(+)selectivity molecular dynamics simulations 

分 类 号：O631[理学—高分子化学]