Question

What is ATP-Binding Cassette (ABC)? How is it different from diffusion?

Answer 1

ATP-Binding Cassette (ABC) is a member of one of the largest transport family which is found almost in all extant phylas from prokaryotes to humans.These transporters transport substrates in either direction across the membrane with the expenditure of energy in the form of ATP.ABC transporters uptake a variety of substrates like nutirnts, precursors and vitamins where as export drugs, sterols, secondary metabolites etc. The difference between ABC and diffusion is that the foemer is active transporter while the later is a passive process.