Ion transport articles from across Nature Portfolio

Heat increases heart rate across vertebrates. Here, authors pinpoint a motif in the HCN4 channel that governs heat-driven heart rate acceleration and demonstrate its conserved role in other HCN channels, revealing a conserved mechanism linking temperature to membrane excitability.

In this study, Rödström et al. use cryo-EM to reveal a range of structural features in THIK-1 K⁺ channel and demonstrate how these features define many functional properties of the channel, thus expanding its potential as a drug target.

Roy-Chowdhury et al. report structures of the human leak channel K_2P13.1 that identify a hydrophilic pore restriction and a polyunsaturated-fatty-acid-binding site corresponding to a small-molecule agonist site in the K_2P family.

Animal toxins can modulate action potentials and are important leads for therapeutics. Here, the authors use cryo-EM to show the interaction of the tarantula venom peptide Protoxin-I with a human voltage-gated sodium channel implicated in pain

Iron and manganese are essential nutrients that have to be taken up with our diet and distributed in the body. This work describes the structural basis for the transport of these metal ions across membranes by the human transporters DMT1 and NRAMP1.

SPNS2 exports S1P and FTY720-P to control immune cell migration. Here, the authors use cryo-EM, immunofluorescence, in vitro binding and in vivo S1P export, and MD simulations to uncover the mechanisms of SPNS2’s transport and inhibition.

We report light-gated channels in a fungus-like protist that are highly selective for K⁺ over Na⁺. These microbial rhodopsin channels, named kalium channelrhodopsins, enable robust inhibition of mouse cortical neurons with millisecond precision. In addition, kalium channelrhodopsins reveal a previously unknown potassium selectivity mechanism.

A recent study reports the first high-resolution, cryo-electron microscopy-based structure of zebrafish Na⁺-K⁺-Cl^− cotransporter 1 (NKCC1). This structure provides important insights into the determinants of ion translocation by NKCC1 and other cation-Cl^− cotransporters such as NKCC2. It could thus facilitate the design of drugs to target these transporters individually.

New structural work sheds light on the architecture of otopetrin channels, offering insights into the mechanisms for proton permeation in this family.

Bacteria sense metal ions using proteins whose interactions with DNA are sensitive to metal ion availability and identity. Less competitive metal ions trigger protein–DNA binding only at high concentrations.