Water molecules within enclosed cavities such as biological membrane channels obey quite different rules than the ones that apply in more hydrated environments such as the cytoplasm.  The transport of small molecules and the conduction of ions should be understood only when coupled to the correlated movements of those water molecules that cohabit these regions, which have evolved as narrow interstices to maintain the chemical selectivity of many biological processes.  By building upon several years of electrophysiology experiments, X-ray crystallography, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, quantum mechanical and molecular dynamics simulations we modeled the role of membrane waters in the mechanism of acidification of the influenza A virus.  Confined water molecules within the pore of the M2 proton channel orient to minimize the energetic cost of protons flowing into the viral membrane, while at the same time retaining the ability to acquire new protons and maintain a steady-state flow.

Water molecules work in concert to direct the traffic of protons in a viral membrane channel

248th National Meeting (2014)

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