Swartz Kenton J
Porter Neuroscience Research Center, Molecular Physiology and Biophysics Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
Nature. 2008 Dec 18;456(7224):891-7. doi: 10.1038/nature07620.
The detection of electrical potentials across lipid bilayers by specialized membrane proteins is required for many fundamental cellular processes such as the generation and propagation of nerve impulses. These membrane proteins possess modular voltage-sensing domains, a notable example being the S1-S4 domains of voltage-activated ion channels. Ground-breaking structural studies on these domains explain how voltage sensors are designed and reveal important interactions with the surrounding lipid membrane. Although further structures are needed to understand the conformational changes that occur during voltage sensing, the available data help to frame several key concepts that are fundamental to the mechanism of voltage sensing.
许多基本的细胞过程，如神经冲动的产生和传播，都需要通过特殊的膜蛋白来检测跨脂质双层的电势。这些膜蛋白具有模块化的电压感应结构域，一个显著的例子是电压激活离子通道的S1 - S4结构域。对这些结构域的开创性结构研究解释了电压传感器的设计方式，并揭示了与周围脂质膜的重要相互作用。尽管需要更多的结构来理解电压感应过程中发生的构象变化，但现有数据有助于构建几个对电压感应机制至关重要的关键概念。
