Active transport examples

The gradients of H, Na, and other cations and anions established by ATPases and other energy sources can be used for secondary active transport of various substrates. The best-understood systems use Na or gradients to transport amino acids and sugars in certain cells. Many of these systems operate as symports, with the ion and the transported amino acid or sugar moving in the same direction (that is, into the cell). In antiport processes, the ion and the other transported species move in opposite directions. (For example, the anion transporter of erythrocytes is an antiport.) Proton symport proteins are used by E. coU and other bacteria to accumulate lactose, arabinose, ribose, and a variety of amino acids. E. coli also possesses Na -symport systems for melibiose as well as for glutamate and other amino acids. 

A simulation model has entities (e.g. machines, materials, people, etc.) and activities (e.g. processing, transporting, etc.). It also has a description of the logic governing each activity. For example, a processing activity can only start when a certain quantity of working material is available, a person to run the machine and an empty conveyor to take away the product. Once an activity has started, a time to completion is calculated, often using a sample from a statistical distribution. 

A well-known example of active transport is the sodium-potassium pump that maintains the imbalance of Na and ions across cytoplasmic membranes. Flere, the movement of ions is coupled to the hydrolysis of ATP to ADP and phosphate by the ATPase enzyme, liberating three Na+ out of the cell and pumping in two K [21-23]. Bacteria, mitochondria, and chloroplasts have a similar ion-driven uptake mechanism, but it works in reverse. Instead of ATP hydrolysis driving ion transport, H gradients across the membranes generate the synthesis of ATP from ADP and phosphate [24-27]. 

Most biological reactions fall into the categories of first-order or second-order reactions, and we will discuss these in more detail below. In certain situations the rate of reaction is independent of reaction concentration hence the rate equation is simply v = k. Such reactions are said to be zero order. Systems for which the reaction rate can reach a maximum value under saturating reactant conditions become zero ordered at high reactant concentrations. Examples of such systems include enzyme-catalyzed reactions, receptor-ligand induced signal transduction, and cellular activated transport systems. Recall from Chapter 2, for example, that when [S] Ku for an enzyme-catalyzed reaction, the velocity is essentially constant and close to the value of Vmax. Under these substrate concentration conditions the enzyme reaction will appear to be zero order in the substrate. 

A classical example of active transport is the transport of sodium ions in frog skin from the epithelium to the corium, i.e. into the body. The principal ionic component in the organism of a frog, sodium ions, is not washed out of its body during its life in water. That this phenomenon is a result of the active transport of sodium ions is demonstrated by an experiment in which the skin of the common green frog is fixed as a... 

Active transport is of basic importance for life processes. For example, it consumes 30-40 per cent of the metabolic energy in the human body. The nervous system, which constitutes only 2 per cent of the weight of the organism, utilizes 20 per cent of the total amount of oxygen consumed in respiration to produce energy for active transport. 

Some metals can be converted to a less toxic form through enzyme detoxification. The most well-described example of this mechanism is the mercury resistance system, which occurs in S. aureus,43 Bacillus sp.,44 E. coli,45 Streptomyces lividans,46 and Thiobacillus ferrooxidans 47 The mer operon in these bacteria includes two different metal resistance mechanisms.48 MerA employs an enzyme detoxification approach as it encodes a mercury reductase, which converts the divalent mercury cation into elemental mercury 49 Elemental mercury is more stable and less toxic than the divalent cation. Other genes in the operon encode membrane proteins that are involved in the active transport of elemental mercury out of the cell.50 52... 

At a more molecular level, the influences of the composition of the membrane domains, which are characteristic of a polarized cell, on diffusion are not specifically defined. These compositional effects include the differential distribution of molecular charges in the membrane domains and between the leaflets of the membrane lipid bilayer (Fig. 3). The membrane domains often have physical differences in surface area, especially in the surface area that is accessible for participation in transport. For example, the surface area in some cells is increased by the presence of membrane folds such as microvilli (see Figs. 2 and 6). The membrane domains also have differences in metabolic selectivity and capacity as well as in active transport due to the asymmetrical distribution of receptors and transporters. 

With active transport, energy is expended to move a substance against its concentration gradient from an area of low concentration to an area of high concentration. This process is used to accumulate a substance on one side of the plasma membrane or the other. The most common example of active transport is the sodium-potassium pump that involves the activity of Na+-K+ ATPase, an intrinsic membrane protein. For each ATP molecule hydrolyzed by Na+-K+ ATPase, this pump moves three Na+ ions out of the cell and two K+ ions into it. As will be discussed further in the next chapter, the activity of this pump contributes to the difference in composition of the extracellular and intracellular fluids necessary for nerve and muscle cells to function. 

The process of inhibition becomes somewhat more complex if no restriction is made with respect to the concentration of modulators. As seen in Fig. 20.13, compounds with a low affinity to the transporter (EUh < 2) are able to activate if applied at low concentrations. However, if these compounds are applied at high concentration, ATP hydrolysis slows down (low V2 values) and they act as inhibitors (cf. Fig. 20.9). Compounds with EUh < 2 seem not to be transported (see Fig. 20.11). This may lead to an obstruction of the transport route and thus to a slow down of the activation cycle. Examples of this type of inhibitor include pro-... 

A famous example of the same category in irreversible coupling phenomena is "active transportation" [44], in which K+ ions are transported through a membrane from a diluted side to the other concentrated side against entropy increase, with the expense of another entropy increase induced by H+ transfer through the same membrane in a countercurrent. 

The cytoskeleton appears to have a significant role in the localization of different organelles, as well as in the active transport of vesicles (see Chs 8 and 28). Both microtubules (MTs) and actin filaments appear to be involved in these processes. For example, through its association with the minus end of MTs, the Golgi apparatus is... 

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