Ion channels articles within Nature Chemistry

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• News & Views | 01 July 2021

  Changing channels

  Designing membrane proteins that function as ion channels is challenging. Now, peptides that self-assemble into water-soluble α-helical barrels have been repurposed to form ion channels in membranes by lining the interior with polar residues and the exterior with hydrophobic ones.

  • Giovanna Ghirlanda

• Article | 10 May 2021

  Constructing ion channels from water-soluble α-helical barrels

  The de novo design of functional membrane proteins is a formidable challenge. Now, water-soluble peptides have been designed that assemble into α-helical barrels with accessible, polar and hydrated central channels. Insights from these structures have been used to produce stable membrane-spanning, cation-selective channels.

  • Alistair J. Scott
  • , Ai Niitsu
  •  & Derek N. Woolfson

• Article | 30 January 2017

  A synthetic ion transporter that disrupts autophagy and induces apoptosis by perturbing cellular chloride concentrations

  A squaramide-based anion transporter has now been shown to cause changes in the lysosomal pH leading to impairment of lysosomal enzyme activity and disruption of autophagic processes. The study provides the first experimental evidence that synthetic ion transporters can both disrupt autophagy and induce apoptosis.

  • Nathalie Busschaert
  • , Seong-Hyun Park
  •  & Injae Shin

• News & Views | 24 January 2012

  Lighting up with azobenzenes

  The chemical introduction of a photoswitchable ligand into ion channel structures should make it possible to study the diverse roles of neurotransmitters and receptors in the brain.

  • G. Andrew Woolley

• Article | 10 January 2012

  Optochemical control of genetically engineered neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors

  Light-sensitive ligands can be used to regulate neurobiological receptors with high spatiotemporal precision. Here, the optochemical control of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, using both photoswitchable tethered agonists and antagonists, is described. These rationally designed hybrid photoreceptors will facilitate the investigation of the physiological and pathological functions of nicotinic receptors in the brain.

  • Ivan Tochitsky
  • , Matthew R. Banghart
  •  & Dirk Trauner