Robust inference of cooperative behaviour of multiple ion channels in voltage-clamp recordings

Recent experimental studies have shed light on the intriguing possibility that ion channels exhibit cooperative behaviour. However, a comprehensive understanding of such cooperativity remains elusive, primarily due to limitations in measuring separately the response of each channel. Rather, only the superimposed channel response can be observed, challenging existing data analysis methods. To address this gap, we propose IDC (Idealisation, Discretisation, and Cooperativity inference), a robust statistical data analysis methodology that requires only voltage-clamp current recordings of an ensemble of ion channels. The framework of IDC enables us to integrate recent advancements in idealisation techniques and coupled Markov models. Further, in the cooperativity inference phase of IDC, we introduce a minimum distance estimator and establish its statistical guarantee in the form of asymptotic consistency. We demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of IDC through extensive simulation studies. As an application, we investigate gramicidin D channels. Our findings reveal that these channels act independently, even at varying applied voltages during voltage-clamp experiments. An implementation of IDC is available from GitLab.