Abstract
THEORIES of active biological transfer have been discussed in the light of the Curie principle1,2, which forbids the combination of a scalar force, such as the chemical affinity of a reaction, with a vector flux such as the diffusion flux of a solute2. In active transfer, solutes are transferred against their gradients of electrochemical potential by means of energy derived from metabolism. It has usually been stated that direct thermodynamic cross coupling between a chemical reaction and the flux of an active transfer cannot occur3 and, instead, the chemical reaction is supposed to modify the electrochemical potential of the transferred solute which then diffuses spontaneously.
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ACLAND, J. Vectorial Metabolism. Nature 215, 78–79 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/215078a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/215078a0
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