Potassium channels exclude the smaller
alkali metal cations Li1 (radius 0.60 Å) and
Na1 (0.95 Å) but allow permeation of the
larger members of the series Rb1 (1.48 Å)
and Cs1 (1.69 Å). In fact, Rb1 is nearly a
perfect K1 (1.33 Å) analog because its size
and permeability characteristics are very
similar to those of K1. Because they are
more electron dense than K1, Rb1 and Cs1
allow visualization of the locations of permeant
ions in the pore. By difference electron
density maps calculated with data from
crystals transferred into Rb1-containing
(Fig. 6a) or Cs1-containing (Fig. 6b) solutions,
multiple ions are well defined in the
pore. The selectivity filter contains two
ions (inner and outer ions) located at opposite
ends, about 7.5 Å apart (center to
center). In the Rb1 difference map, there
actually are two partially separated peaks at
the inner aspect of the selectivity filter.
These peaks are too close to each other (2.6
Å) to represent two simultaneously occupied
ion binding sites. We suspect that they
represent a single ion (on average) in rapid
equilibrium between adjacent sites. The
single inner ion peak in the Cs1 difference
map undoubtedly reflects the lower resolution
at which the map was calculated (to 5
Å for Cs1 versus 4.0 Å for Rb1), because
the Rb1 difference map, when calculated at
the same lower resolution, also shows only a
single peak at the Cs1 position. The Rb1
positions correspond to strong peaks (pre-