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The leaks and slips of bioenergetic membranes
Author(s) -
Brown Guy C.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.6.11.1644259
Subject(s) - membrane , bioenergetics , proton , leak , electrochemical gradient , proton pump , biophysics , chemistry , slip (aerodynamics) , ion , chemical physics , physics , biology , biochemistry , nuclear physics , thermodynamics , atpase , mitochondrion , enzyme , organic chemistry
Bioenergetic membranes use proton gradients to transduce energy. However, when the proton gradient is large 1 ) there is a passive leak of protons (and other ions) across these membranes, and 2 ) some proton pumps may fail to pump protons (a phenomenon known as slip). Leaks and slips may be an unavoidable consequence of membrane structure and cause significant wastage of free energy, but they may also have functional roles beneficial to the organism.— Brown, G. C. The leaks and slips of bioenergetic membranes. FASEB J. 6: 2961‐2965; 1992.