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Related Concept Videos

Protein Diffusion in the Membrane01:24

Protein Diffusion in the Membrane

Proteins show rotational as well as lateral diffusion across the membrane. The lateral diffusion of proteins was confirmed through the cell fusion experiment where mouse and human cells were fused, resulting in hybrid cells. When the human and mouse cells fused, the specific membrane proteins on human and mouse cells were marked with the red and green-fluorescent markers, respectively. Initially, the red and green fluorescence was located on the respective hemisphere of the cell. As time...
Electrochemical Gradient and Channel Proteins: An Overview01:21

Electrochemical Gradient and Channel Proteins: An Overview

An electrochemical gradient is a fundamental concept in biology and chemistry. It regulates the movement of ions across cell membranes. This movement is influenced by two factors:
The electrical gradient: The electrical gradient across cell membranes refers to the difference in electric charge between the inside and outside of a cell.  This difference drives the movement of ions towards or away from the cells. For instance, if the inside of the cell is more negatively charged relative to the...
What is an Electrochemical Gradient?01:26

What is an Electrochemical Gradient?

Adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, is considered the primary energy source in cells. However, energy can also be stored in the electrochemical gradient of an ion across the plasma membrane, which is determined by two factors: its chemical and electrical gradients.The chemical gradient relies on differences in the abundance of a substance on the outside versus the inside of a cell and flows from areas of high to low ion concentration. In contrast, the electrical gradient revolves around an ion’s...
Secondary Active Transport01:55

Secondary Active Transport

One example of how cells use the energy contained in electrochemical gradients is demonstrated by glucose transport into cells. The ion vital to this process is sodium (Na+), which is typically present in higher concentrations extracellularly than in the cytosol. Such a concentration difference is due, in part, to the action of an enzyme “pump” embedded in the cellular membrane that actively expels Na+ from a cell. Importantly, as this pump contributes to the high concentration of...
Secondary Active Transport01:32

Secondary Active Transport

One example of how cells use the energy contained in electrochemical gradients is demonstrated by glucose transport into cells. The ion vital to this process is sodium (Na+), which is typically present in higher concentrations extracellularly than in the cytosol. Such a concentration difference is due, in part, to the action of an enzyme "pump" embedded in the cellular membrane that actively expels Na+ from a cell. Importantly, as this pump contributes to the high concentration of...
The Significance of Membrane Transport01:44

The Significance of Membrane Transport

The transport of solutes across the cell membrane is essential for metabolic processes, like maintaining cell size and volume, generating the action potential, exchanging nutrients and gases, etc. Membrane transport can be either passive or active. It can be simple diffusion, facilitated, or mediated transport aided by transport proteins such as transporters and channels.
Transporters facilitate either an active or passive movement of solutes. They can allow a single-molecule transport down its...

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Residue-specific Incorporation of Noncanonical Amino Acids into Model Proteins Using an Escherichia coli Cell-free Transcription-translation System
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Model for Protein Concentration Gradients in the Cytoplasm.

Karen Lipkow1, David J Odde

  • 1Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DY, UK.

Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering
|December 15, 2010
PubMed
Summary

Protein concentration gradients can be sustained indefinitely using a kinase-phosphatase system. This occurs when different protein forms have varying diffusion rates, challenging previous assumptions about diffusion limits.

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Single-Molecule Tracking Microscopy - A Tool for Determining the Diffusive States of Cytosolic Molecules
10:20

Single-Molecule Tracking Microscopy - A Tool for Determining the Diffusive States of Cytosolic Molecules

Published on: September 5, 2019

Area of Science:

  • Cellular Biology
  • Biophysics
  • Biochemistry

Background:

  • Intracellular protein concentration gradients are typically considered unsustainable at steady-state due to diffusion limitations.
  • Existing models assume diffusion homogenizes total protein concentrations, despite acknowledging potential for phosphostate gradients.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the theoretical possibility of sustaining intracellular protein concentration gradients indefinitely.
  • To challenge the assumption that total protein concentration gradients are unsustainable.

Main Methods:

  • Developed a theoretical model coupling diffusion with a spatially segregated kinase-phosphatase system.
  • Employed analytical solutions for diffusion-reaction problems.
  • Utilized stochastic individual-based simulations (Smoldyn program).

Main Results:

  • Demonstrated that protein concentration gradients can be theoretically sustained indefinitely.
  • Showed this is possible when different protein forms (e.g., phosphorylated and unphosphorylated) exhibit distinct diffusion coefficients.
  • Illustrated that binding of a phosphorylated state to a larger complex can create a steady-state gradient in total protein concentration.

Conclusions:

  • Protein concentration gradients can be maintained through mechanisms involving differential diffusion of protein states.
  • These gradients challenge conventional understanding of diffusion limits in cellular systems.
  • The findings have implications for interpreting experiments with fluorescent probes and suggest a mechanism for encoding spatial information in the cytoplasm.