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Very simple bio membrane proteins help please

"Carrier proteins, such as the glucose transporter mentioned earlier, seem to undergo a subtle change in shape that somehow translocates the solute-binding site across the membrane."

I don't think I can picture this. Do they mean that if the carrier protein transported glucose from the outside to the inside, the shape is changed and it now has to transport glucose from the inside to the outside and so on ?

Reply 1

tuxedo-

Searching your quote gave me this result which is accompanied by a relevant diagram above:

What it seems to mean, is that when the carrier protein changes shape, the site to which the glucose molecule is binded to is moved to the other side of the membrane where it can then be released into the cell, and then the protein changes shape again so that the binding site is on the outside and another glucose molecule can bind to it and repeat the process.