Mimicking the binding and unbinding of Fe3+ with transferrin using a single biomimetic nanochannel.

A new type of apo-Tf functionalized nanochannel is developed to achieve the specific and selective binding and unbinding of Fe(3+) in a multiple and reversible manner via a protein-conformation-gating mechanism. This ion-responsive biomimetic nanochannel provides a simple, robust, and promising model for studying other biological processes.