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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1973 Jan;70(1):275–278. doi: 10.1073/pnas.70.1.275

A Model for Active Transport of Sodium and Potassium Ions as Mediated by a Tetrameric Enzyme*

W D Stein 1, W R Lieb 1,†, S J D Karlish 1, Y Eilam 1
PMCID: PMC433230  PMID: 4265117

Abstract

A new model is proposed for the system that actively transports sodium and potassium ions across animal-cell membranes. The model is based on the physical and chemical properties of transport-associated adenosine triphosphatase (EC 3.6.1.3) and on the kinetics of ion movements mediated by the system. Transport is postulated to occur by internal transfer of cations across a protein tetramer embedded in the cell membrane. The protein tetramer can exist in either of two forms of identical energy; transport occurs as a result of the sequential “flipping” from one conformation to the other. The conformation change results in the interchanging of the affinities of cation-binding sites associated with different sub-units of the tetramer, with a concomitant splitting of adenosine triphosphate.

Keywords: cell membranes, adenosine triphosphatase, transport kinetics, cation pumping, protein conformation changes

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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