Sequencing and the Single Channel

Single-channel electrophysiology provides for high-resolution measurements of the dynamics of single macromolecules, the channel proteins (Neher and Sakmann, 1976). Among the measurements that have proven fruitful have been ability to monitor, in almost real time, the interactions between the channel and a blocker, or modifier, of ion permeation (Neher and Steinbach, 1978; Prod’hom et al., 1987; Hemsley and Busath, 1991). The emphasis usually has been on the channel, but different blockers/modifiers may have different characteristic “fingerprints” (Hemsley and Busath, 1991), which provides for possibilities in terms of using the characteristics of the blocking events to determine the chemical identity of the blocking species.