Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Carrier-Mediated Transport01:06

Carrier-Mediated Transport

Carrier-mediated transport is a pivotal process in drug absorption, particularly for lipid-insoluble drugs, and encompasses facilitated diffusion and active transport. Facilitated diffusion allows drugs to move along their concentration gradient without energy expenditure, while active transport utilizes ATP to drive drug movement against this gradient.
Active transport involves two types of membrane-spanning transporters: uptake and efflux. Uptake transporters are expressed in the small...
Facilitated Diffusion01:16

Facilitated Diffusion

The plasma membrane, a critical structure in cellular biology, houses an array of transporters, or carrier proteins, interspersed within its lipid bilayer. These proteins play a crucial role in solute transport through facilitated diffusion, a form of passive diffusion that uses transporters to move the molecules across the membrane.
In this process, substrates such as organic compounds and ions interact with a transporter on one side, triggering conformational changes in proteins that enable...
Drug Absorption Mechanism: Carrier-Mediated Membrane Transport01:19

Drug Absorption Mechanism: Carrier-Mediated Membrane Transport

Certain large, lipid-insoluble drug molecules that resemble amino acids, peptides, or glucose, require specialized carrier proteins to facilitate their diffusion across cell membranes. This transport can occur through either facilitated diffusion, which does not require energy input, or active transport, which does require energy input.
Facilitated diffusion is a passive process that utilizes human Solute Carrier (SLC) transporters. These transporters bind to the drug, undergo structural...
Membrane Transporters01:31

Membrane Transporters

Transporters are essential membrane transport proteins with functions related to cell nutrition, homeostasis, communication, etc. Approximately 7% of all genes in the human genome code for transporters or transporter-related proteins.
Transporters are mainly composed of alpha-helices, built from bundles of ten or more helices traversing the plasma membrane. The solute-binding sites are located midway, where some of the helices are broken or distorted, making space for the binding site through...
Transcellular Transport of Solutes01:23

Transcellular Transport of Solutes

Transcellular transport of solutes is the movement of substances like monosaccharides and amino acids through polarized cells. This transport mechanism is primarily seen in epithelial and endothelial cells aided by membrane transport proteins such as channels and transporters. The tight junctions between these cells confine the membrane proteins to the two sides of the cell. The epithelial cells have distinct apical and basolateral domains. In contrast, the endothelial cells show the luminal...
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...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Precision tumor-on-chip for personalized assessment of drug efficacy and immune cell delivery.

Cell reports methods·2026
Same author

AI-assisted teams outperform AI-led teams but not human-only teams in assessing research reproducibility in quantitative social science.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same author

Publisher Correction: Reproducibility and robustness of economics and political science research.

Nature·2026
Same author

Reproducibility and robustness of economics and political science research.

Nature·2026
Same author

The TREM2 agonistic antibody AL002 in early Alzheimer's disease: a phase 2 randomized trial.

Nature medicine·2026
Same author

Central amygdala single-nucleus atlas reveals chromatin and gene transcription dynamics in human alcohol use disorder.

Nature communications·2026
Same journal

Chemotactic self-organization captures the dynamics of mammalian hair follicle patterning.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Tomographic imaging of superconducting order using particle-hole interference.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Inhibitory potential of autologous neutralizing antibodies sets quantitative limits on the rebound-competent HIV-1 reservoir.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Inferring epidemiological parameters under an infectious phylogeography model with visitor dynamics.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Analytical modeling for suction cup designs for skin-interfaced wearable devices.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Improving cell-free metabolism through direct integration of artificial respiratory chains.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 12, 2026

Characterization of Membrane Transporters by Heterologous Expression in E. coli and Production of Membrane Vesicles
13:16

Characterization of Membrane Transporters by Heterologous Expression in E. coli and Production of Membrane Vesicles

Published on: December 31, 2019

Transporter-mediated biofuel secretion.

Rupak Doshi1, Tuan Nguyen, Geoffrey Chang

  • 1Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|April 25, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers engineered microbes to secrete biofuels, bypassing costly harvesting. This novel approach using transport proteins boosted biofuel production significantly, offering a more sustainable and economical renewable energy solution.

Keywords:
ABC transportersbiofuel milkinggreen fuelmultidrug efflux

More Related Videos

Demonstration of Membrane Transport of Histidine using Goat Intestinal Inverted Sacs: An Experiential Pedagogical Tool for Undergraduates
04:40

Demonstration of Membrane Transport of Histidine using Goat Intestinal Inverted Sacs: An Experiential Pedagogical Tool for Undergraduates

Published on: October 4, 2024

Models and Methods to Evaluate Transport of Drug Delivery Systems Across Cellular Barriers
18:57

Models and Methods to Evaluate Transport of Drug Delivery Systems Across Cellular Barriers

Published on: October 17, 2013

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 12, 2026

Characterization of Membrane Transporters by Heterologous Expression in E. coli and Production of Membrane Vesicles
13:16

Characterization of Membrane Transporters by Heterologous Expression in E. coli and Production of Membrane Vesicles

Published on: December 31, 2019

Demonstration of Membrane Transport of Histidine using Goat Intestinal Inverted Sacs: An Experiential Pedagogical Tool for Undergraduates
04:40

Demonstration of Membrane Transport of Histidine using Goat Intestinal Inverted Sacs: An Experiential Pedagogical Tool for Undergraduates

Published on: October 4, 2024

Models and Methods to Evaluate Transport of Drug Delivery Systems Across Cellular Barriers
18:57

Models and Methods to Evaluate Transport of Drug Delivery Systems Across Cellular Barriers

Published on: October 17, 2013

Area of Science:

  • Synthetic biology
  • Metabolic engineering
  • Renewable energy

Background:

  • Microbial biofuel production is promising but hindered by energy-intensive biomass harvesting.
  • Current methods for biofuel extraction from engineered microorganisms are costly and inefficient.
  • A need exists for cost-effective and sustainable strategies to improve biofuel yield and accessibility.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the use of membrane transport proteins for direct biofuel secretion from engineered microorganisms.
  • To overcome the limitations of biomass harvesting in microbial biofuel production.
  • To enhance biofuel yield and simplify downstream processing.

Main Methods:

  • Engineered Escherichia coli to express specific membrane-embedded transport proteins (ATP-binding cassette family).
  • Utilized transporters known for effluxing lipids and drugs to mediate secretion of intracellularly synthesized isoprenoid biofuels.
  • Quantified biofuel production and secretion efficiency in the engineered system.

Main Results:

  • Demonstrated successful secretion of model isoprenoid biofuel compounds to the extracellular environment.
  • Achieved a sustainable three- to fivefold increase in biofuel production via transporter-mediated secretion.
  • Validated the efficacy of ATP-binding cassette transporters for biofuel export in a bacterial test system.

Conclusions:

  • Membrane transport proteins can be effectively employed to secrete biofuels, eliminating the need for cell harvesting.
  • This 'plug-and-play' system using ubiquitous ATP-binding cassette transporters is adaptable to various microbial hosts (bacteria, cyanobacteria, yeast, algae).
  • The strategy holds significant potential for advancing economically viable and environmentally sustainable biofuel production.