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The naked truth about K+ selectivity

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Potassium channels rapidly move K+ ions across cell membranes while blocking Na+, but how these two effects are achieved simultaneously has remained unclear. Now, extensive molecular simulations show a single mechanism that features fully dehydrated ions can explain both rapid transport and impeccable selectivity.

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Fig. 1: K+ ion transport.

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Correspondence to Ben Corry.

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Corry, B. The naked truth about K+ selectivity. Nature Chem 10, 799–800 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-018-0112-x

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