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Showing a Preference for Protons
Protons (H+) and calcium (Ca2+) produce a variety of different effects in cells. One way to determine which channels allow each of these ions to pass is to isolate the proteins and incorporate them into artificial bilayers. With this approach, Pitt et al. found that H+ was the preferred ion that passed through the human two-pore channel 1 (TPC1), which in cells is located in acidic membrane-bound compartments called endosomes and lysosomes. They also identified intracellular signaling messengers that stimulated TPC1 and signals that changed the relative ability of different positively charged ions to flow through the channel. The exact function of the released H+ remains an open question.
