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Mechanism of long‐range proton translocation along biological membranes
Author(s) -
Medvedev Emile S.,
Stuchebrukhov Alexei A.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2012.12.010
Subject(s) - chemical physics , desorption , proton , diffusion , range (aeronautics) , membrane , adsorption , chemistry , mechanism (biology) , biophysics , biological membrane , electrochemical gradient , proton transport , chromosomal translocation , kinetics , materials science , physics , thermodynamics , nuclear physics , biology , gene , biochemistry , quantum mechanics , composite material
Recent experiments suggest that protons can travel along biological membranes up to tens of micrometers, but the mechanism of transport is unknown. To explain such a long‐range proton translocation we describe a model that takes into account the coupled bulk diffusion that accompanies the migration of protons on the surface. We show that protons diffusing at or near the surface before equilibrating with the bulk desorb and re‐adsorb at the surface thousands of times, giving rise to a power‐law desorption kinetics. As a result, the decay of the surface protons occurs very slowly, allowing for establishing local gradient and local exchange, as was envisioned in the early local models of biological energy transduction.