Don’t just tell your students how aquaporin moves water across a lipid bilayer. Show them its structure and discuss its function with our colorful 3-D protein model.
Water molecules rapidly flow in single file through the aquaporin channel – a membrane-spanning protein. Its structure consists of 6 alpha helices and 2 half alpha helices that form an hourglass shape through which water molecules move one at a time. Two asparagine amino acids are strategically positioned at the narrowest point of the hourglass and provide selectivity to this channel, allowing only water molecules to pass through. While the process is not fully understood, many researchers believe that the water molecules roll over as they bind with the asparagine.
The 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded "for discoveries concerning channels in cell membranes" jointly with one half to Peter Agre "for the discovery of water channels" and with one half to Roderick MacKinnon "for structural and mechanistic studies of ion channels".
This 3.75'' model is made of plaster by rapid prototyping and should be handled with care. Mini models will break if dropped, held tightly or handled roughly. Its PDB file is 1FQY.pdb.
