Carrier Models

Carrier Models

Carrier Models
That carrier proteins are involved in certain types of transport mechanisms is well established. However, the exact mechanism by which carriers transport substances across the membrane is not known.

The carrier molecule is believed to have a specific site that; binds the transport substrate. The activated carrier binds the substrate on one side of the membrane and releases it on the other.

When the substrate is released, the site has to be reactivated by a conformational change in the carrier molecule or by phosphorylation of the carrier by ATP.Hydrolysis of ATP takes place by ATPase, which mayor may not be a part of the carrier molecule

Once the carrier molecule has undergone a conformational change, it can accept another molecule of the substrate, and the cycle is repeated. Several types of carrier models have been proposed to explain transport of substrates across the cell membrane

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