The mechanism of Na⁺/K⁺ selectivity in mammalian voltage-gated sodium channels based on molecular dynamics simulation. Author Mengdie Xia, Huihui Liu, Yang Li, Nieng Yan, Haipeng Gong Publication Year 2013 Type Journal Article Abstract Voltage-gated sodium (Nav) channels and their Na⁺/K⁺ selectivity are of great importance in the mammalian neuronal signaling. According to mutational analysis, the Na⁺/K⁺ selectivity in mammalian Nav channels is mainly determined by the Lys and Asp/Glu residues located at the constriction site within the selectivity filter. Despite successful molecular dynamics simulations conducted on the prokaryotic Nav channels, the lack of Lys at the constriction site of prokaryotic Nav channels limits how much can be learned about the Na⁺/K⁺ selectivity in mammalian Nav channels. In this work, we modeled the mammalian Nav channel by mutating the key residues at the constriction site in a prokaryotic Nav channel (NavRh) to its mammalian counterpart. By simulating the mutant structure, we found that the Na⁺ preference in mammalian Nav channels is collaboratively achieved by the deselection from Lys and the selection from Asp/Glu within the constriction site. Keywords Substrate Specificity, Mutation, Protein Conformation, Amino Acid Sequence, Potassium, Molecular Dynamics Simulation, Permeability, Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels, Sodium Journal Biophys J Volume 104 Issue 11 Pages 2401-9 Date Published 2013 Jun 04 ISSN Number 1542-0086 DOI 10.1016/j.bpj.2013.04.035 Alternate Journal Biophys J PMCID PMC3672897 PMID 23746512 PubMedPubMed CentralGoogle ScholarBibTeXEndNote X3 XML