FOR 2518:  Functional dynamics of ion channels and transporters - DynIon -

• Subject Area: Biology ; Medicine
• Term: since 2017
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 291198853

The DFG-Research Unit initiative Functional dynamics of ion channels and transporters combines experimental and computational strategies to study ion channels and transporters. We will focus on ligand activation of ion channels, including ion channels that require ligand binding for channel opening (ionotropic glutamate receptors), ion channels that are modulated by ligands (K2P channels, voltage-gated K+ channels, cyclic nucleotide modulated ion channels) and transporters that can also adopt channel-like conformations (EAAT glutamate transporters and CLC anion channels/anion-proton exchangers). A variety of experimental approaches, ranging from electrophysiology, biochemistry and fluorometry to structural biology, will be integrated with computational techniques including all-atom molecular dynamics (MD), hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanics simulations, as well as free energy calculations and Markov state modeling. Our strategy will foster and exploit an otherwise unattainable synergy between computer simulations and experiments. We expect that our research program will advance theoretical and experimental approaches in ion channel research in general and will provide novel insights into selected ion channels and transporters specifically.

• DFG Programme: Research Units

Projects

• Combining Experiment, Simulation and Machine Learning to elucidate the activation of Glutamate receptor complexes (Applicants Noé, Frank ;  Plested, Andrew )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant Benndorf, Klaus )
• Disinhibition and inhibition of HCN2 channel function by ligand binding to the cyclic nucleotide binding domain (Applicant Gohlke, Holger )
• Diversity of transport mechanisms in the SLC1 transporter family (Applicants Fahlke, Christoph ;  Machtens, Jan-Philipp )
• Ion Permeation in Potassium Selective and Non-selective Cation Channels (Applicants Plested, Andrew ;  Sun, Han )
• Novel approaches to study the signal chain of the voltage-dependent gating in the selectivity filter of viral K+ channels (Applicant Schröder, Indra )
• Proton transfer and substrate recognition in SLC17 transporters (Applicants Alfonso-Prieto, Ph.D., Mercedes ;  Carloni, Paolo ;  Fahlke, Christoph )
• Role of lipids on the conformational cycling in trimeric Na+-coupled symporters (Applicant Ziegler, Christine Maria )
• Scrutinizing the function of the cyclic-nucleotide binding domain in the activation of HCN channels (Applicants Benndorf, Klaus ;  Kusch, Jana )
• Selectivity filter gating in homomeric and heteromeric K+ channels (Applicants Baukrowitz, Thomas ;  Schewe, Ph.D., Marcus )
• The molecular dynamics of potassium channel permeation, selectivity and gating (Applicant de Groot, Berend )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Klaus Benndorf