Transport unidirectional/selective

Both active and passive fluxes across the cellular membranes can occur simultaneously, but these movements depend on concentrations in different ways (Fig. 3-17). For passive diffusion, the unidirectional component 7jn is proportional to c°, as is indicated by Equation 1.8 for neutral solutes [Jj = Pj(cJ — cj)] and by Equation 3.16 for ions. This proportionality strictly applies only over the range of external concentrations for which the permeability coefficient is essentially independent of concentration, and the membrane potential must not change in the case of charged solutes. Nevertheless, ordinary passive influxes do tend to be proportional to the external concentration, whereas an active influx or the special passive influx known as facilitated diffusion—either of which can be described by a Michaelis-Menten type of formalism—shows saturation effects at higher concentrations. Moreover, facilitated diffusion and active transport exhibit selectivity and competition, whereas ordinary diffusion does not (Fig. 3-17). 

Fig. 10.21. The nuclear pore complex. The approximately 100 different polypeptide chains of the nuclear pore complex form an assembly of 8 spokes attached to two ring structures (a cytoplasmic ring in the outer nuclear membrane and a nuclear ring through the inner membrane) with a transporter plug in the center. Small molecules, ions, and proteins with less than a 50-kDa mass passively diffuse through the pore in either direction. However, RNAs and most proteins are too large to diffuse through, and are actively transported in a process that requires energy, is selective for the molecule transported, is unidirectional, and can be regulated.

---