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On Translocation through a Membrane Channel via an Internal Binding Site: Kinetics and Voltage Dependence

Gerhard Schwarz ^*, Christophe Danelon  and Mathias Winterhalter 

^* Department of Biophysical Chemistry, Biocenter of the University of Basel, Switzerland; and Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale, Université P. Sabatier, Toulouse, France

Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Dr. Mathias Winterhalter, Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale, 205 Rte de Narbonne, F 31077 Toulouse, France; E-mail: Mathias.Winterhalter{at}ipbs.fr.

Here we present a model for maltodextrin translocation through maltoporin channels. In a first step, our theoretical analysis does consider the case of a single binding site for a given substrate in a structurally unaffected channel with a possibly different entrance barrier on either side. It is shown how by means of conventional electrical conductance measurements (including current noise analysis) the basic equilibrium and rate constants can be determined as functions of the applied voltage. Then also the net translocation rate of the substrate becomes accessible quantitatively. This most simple model mechanism has been extended to include a voltage-dependent fast conformational change of the channel that prevents the binding process. The so developed approach has been tested with experimental data for a single maltoporin trimer being reconstituted in black lipid membranes when studied in the presence of maltohexaose as the substrate. The experimental results turned out to be clearly incompatible with binding alone. They are, however, very satisfactorily fitted by pertinent theoretical curves if also inhibition of binding by a conformational transition is taken into account. Accordingly, quantitative evaluations of the underlying parameters and eventually of the translocation rate have been carried out successfully. Our analysis reveals a set of parameters necessary for an optimal translocation that nicely corresponds to natural conditions.

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