Two other carrier proteins are Ca 2+ ATPase and H + ATPase, which carry only calcium and only hydrogen ions, respectively. Both of these are antiporter carrier proteins. Some examples of pumps for active transport are Na +-K + ATPase, which carries sodium and potassium ions, and H +-K + ATPase, which carries hydrogen and potassium ions. These three types of carrier proteins are also in facilitated diffusion, but they do not require ATP to work in that process. All of these transporters can also transport small, uncharged organic molecules like glucose. An antiporter also carries two different ions or molecules, but in different directions. A symporter carries two different ions or molecules, both in the same direction. A uniporter carries one specific ion or molecule. Secondary active transport does not directly require ATP: instead, it is the movement of material due to the electrochemical gradient established by primary active transport.Īn important membrane adaptation for active transport is the presence of specific carrier proteins or pumps to facilitate movement: there are three protein types or transporters (Figure 5.18). Primary active transport moves ions across a membrane and creates a difference in charge across that membrane, which is directly dependent on ATP. Two mechanisms exist for transporting small-molecular weight material and small molecules. (A red blood cell uses most of its metabolic energy to maintain the imbalance between exterior and interior sodium and potassium levels that the cell requires.) Because active transport mechanisms depend on a cell’s metabolism for energy, they are sensitive to many metabolic poisons that interfere with the ATP supply. A cell may spend much of its metabolic energy supply maintaining these processes. Active transport maintains concentrations of ions and other substances that living cells require in the face of these passive movements. Small substances constantly pass through plasma membranes. Active transport mechanisms, or pumps, work against electrochemical gradients. ![]() ![]() This energy comes from ATP generated through the cell’s metabolism. To move substances against a concentration or electrochemical gradient, the cell must use energy. We call the combined concentration gradient and electrical charge that affects an ion its electrochemical gradient. ![]() ![]() The electrical gradient of K +, a positive ion, also drives it into the cell, but the concentration gradient of K + drives K + out of the cell (Figure 5.16). However, the situation is more complex for other elements such as potassium. Thus in a living cell, the concentration gradient of Na + tends to drive it into the cell, and its electrical gradient (a positive ion) also drives it inward to the negatively charged interior. The interior of living cells is electrically negative with respect to the extracellular fluid in which they are bathed, and at the same time, cells have higher concentrations of potassium (K +) and lower concentrations of sodium (Na +) than the extracellular fluid. Because ions move into and out of cells and because cells contain proteins that do not move across the membrane and are mostly negatively charged, there is also an electrical gradient, a difference of charge, across the plasma membrane. We have discussed simple concentration gradients-a substance's differential concentrations across a space or a membrane-but in living systems, gradients are more complex.
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