How does active transport work?

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How do we use energy to move particles from a low to high concentration?

Specifically in things like a root hair cell and in the small intestine when absorbing food molecules.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

A proteins can take multiple shapes depending on a number of factors. This is called the proteins “conformation”. For active transport you typically have a molecule that is called “transmembrane” – it has one part sitting outside the cell and another part sitting inside a cell. Some transmembrane proteins will bind to a molecule and then use an energy source – typically ATP to undergo a conformational change which shuttles the molecule into the cell and unbind it from the protein.

ELI5:

Protein binds to molecule, protein uses energy (ATP) to make the protein change shape, protein has now moved the molecule inside the cell.

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