Coulomb interaction rules timescales in potassium ion channel tunneling

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Coulomb repulsion influences quantum tunneling timescales in potassium ion channels, revealing that interactions determine transit times and moderate noise can enhance coherence.

Contribution

It extends a quantum tunneling model of potassium channels by incorporating Coulomb interactions, highlighting their role in ion transport timescales and noise effects.

Findings

Coulomb repulsion sets ion transit timescales.

Moderate noise enhances quantum coherence in ion transport.

Optimal input/output parameters are constrained by Coulomb interactions.

Abstract

Assuming that the selectivity filter of KcsA potassium ion channel may exhibit quantum coherence, we extend a previous model by Vaziri and Plenio (2010) to take into account Coulomb repulsion between potassium ions. We show that typical ion transit timescales are determined by this interaction, which imposes optimal input/output parameter ranges. Also, as observed in other examples of quantum tunneling in biological systems, addition of moderate noise helps coherent ion transport.