Question

Discuss one specific mechanism for transporting material across the plasma membrane and provide an example of a compound and how it is transported by that mechanism.

Answer 1

Materials are transported across the plasma membrane through the facilitated diffusion

FACILITATED DIFFUSION

Facilitated diffusion is a type of passive transport. Where a molecule moves from high concentration to lower concentration i.e along the concentration gradient with the help of a transport protein. This process does not require any energy

EXAMPLE transport of glucose access cell membrane through the GLUT transporters

GLUT's are integral membrane proteins that contains 12 membrane spanning helices. Binding of glucose to one site provokes a conformational change associated with transport and releases glucose to the other side of the membrane.