Electrical signaling is essential for all fast processes in biology, but its molecular mechanisms have been uncertain. This review article focuses on studies of bacterial sodium channels in order to home in on the essential molecular and chemical mechanisms underlying transmembrane ion conductance and voltage-dependent gating without the overlay of complex protein interactions and regulatory mechanisms in mammalian sodium channels. This minimalist approach has yielded a nearly complete picture of sodium channel function at the atomic level that are mostly conserved in mammalian sodium channels, including sodium selectivity and conductance, voltage sensing and activation, electromechanical coupling to pore opening and closing, slow inactivation, and pathogenic dysfunction in a debilitating channelopathy. Future studies of nature’s simplest sodium channels may continue to yield key insights into the fundamental molecular and chemical principles of their function and further elucidate the chemical basis of electrical signaling.

电信号对于生物学中的所有快速过程都是必不可少的，但其分子机制一直不确定。这篇综述文章侧重于细菌钠通道的研究，以便了解跨膜离子电导和电压依赖性门控的基本分子和化学机制，而不会叠加哺乳动物钠通道中复杂的蛋白质相互作用和调节机制。这种极简主义的方法在原子水平上产生了几乎完整的钠通道功能图，这些功能在哺乳动物钠通道中大多是保守的，包括钠选择性和电导、电压感应和激活、与孔打开和关闭的机电耦合、缓慢失活和致病性通道病中的功能障碍。对自然界最简单的钠通道的未来研究可能会继续对其功能的基本分子和化学原理产生关键见解，并进一步阐明电信号的化学基础。