Referenced in: none

Automatically associated channels: Slo1

Title: Ion channels versus ion pumps: the principal difference, in principle.

Authors: David C Gadsby

Journal, date & volume: Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol., 2009 May , 10, 344-52

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19339978

Abstract
The incessant traffic of ions across cell membranes is controlled by two kinds of border guards: ion channels and ion pumps. Open channels let selected ions diffuse rapidly down electrical and concentration gradients, whereas ion pumps labour tirelessly to maintain the gradients by consuming energy to slowly move ions thermodynamically uphill. Because of the diametrically opposed tasks and the divergent speeds of channels and pumps, they have traditionally been viewed as completely different entities, as alike as chalk and cheese. But new structural and mechanistic information about both of these classes of molecular machines challenges this comfortable separation and forces its re-evaluation.