Dynamical Properties of Potassium Ion Channels with a Hierarchical Model

It is well known that potassium ion channels have higher permeability than K ions, and the permeable rate of a single K ion channel is about 10⁸ ions per second. We develop a hierarchical model of potassium ion channel permeation involving ab initio quantum calculations and Brownian dynamics simulations, which can consistently explain a range of channel dynamics. The results show that the average velocity of K ions, the mean permeable time of K ions and the permeable rate of single channel are about 0.92nm/ns, 4.35ns and 2.30× 10⁸ions/s, respectively.