Protonation of key acidic residues is critical for the K⁺-selectivity of the Na/K pump.

The sodium-potassium (Na/K) pump is a P-type ATPase that generates Na(+) and K(+) concentration gradients across the cell membrane. For each hydrolyzed ATP molecule, the pump extrudes three Na(+) and imports two K(+) by alternating between outward- and inward-facing conformations that preferentially bind K(+) or Na(+), respectively. Remarkably, the selective K(+) and Na(+) binding sites share several residues, and how the pump is able to achieve the selectivity required for the functional cycle is unclear. Here, free energy-perturbation molecular dynamics (FEP/MD) simulations based on the crystal structures of the Na/K pump in a K(+)-loaded state (E2·P(i)) reveal that protonation of the high-field acidic side chains involved in the binding sites is crucial to achieving the proper K(+) selectivity. This prediction is tested with electrophysiological experiments showing that the selectivity of the E2P state for K(+) over Na(+) is affected by extracellular pH.