Answer to Question #27579 in Microbiology for Claire

Question

Why do bacterial cells need secondary active transport systems that transport sodium ions into and out of the cell?

Answer 1

There are systems oftransport through membranes that transfer material from the region of their lowconcentration to the area of ​​high concentration without the direct energy consumption of the cell metabolism (as in the case of primary active transport). This type of transport is called secondary active transport. With it, bacteria provide the concentrations of dissolved nutrients within cells, which could be much higher than concentrations in the environment and provide them with a high metabolic rate, even the concentrations of chemicals in the environment are low.