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Originally published in Science Express on 27 January 2005
Science 4 March 2005:
Vol. 307. no. 5714, p. 1427
DOI: 10.1126/science.1109176
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Membrane Insertion of a Potassium-Channel Voltage Sensor

Tara Hessa,1 Stephen H. White,2 Gunnar von Heijne1*

The mechanism of voltage gating in K+ channels is controversial. The paddle model posits that highly charged voltage-sensor domains move relatively freely across the lipid bilayer in response to membrane depolarization; competing models picture the charged S4 voltage-sensor helix as being shielded from lipid contact by other parts of the protein. We measured the apparent free energy of membrane insertion of a K+-channel S4 helix into the endoplasmic reticulum membrane and conclude that S4 is poised very near the threshold of efficient bilayer insertion. Our results suggest that the paddle model is not inconsistent with the high charge content of S4.

1 Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
2 Department of Physiology and Biophysics and the Program in Macromolecular Structure, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697–4560, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gunnar{at}dbb.su.se

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