Gating-by-tilt of mechanically sensitive membrane channels.

We propose an alternative mechanism for the gating of biological membrane channels in response to membrane tension that involves a change in the slope of the membrane near the channel. Under biological membrane tensions we show that the energy difference between the closed (tilted) and open (untilted) states can far exceed k(B)T and is comparable to what is available under simple dilational gating. Recent experiments demonstrate that membrane leaflet asymmetries (spontaneous curvature) can strongly affect the gating of some channels. Such a phenomenon would be easier to explain under gating-by-tilt, given its novel intrinsic sensitivity to such asymmetry.