Editing Uniporter (section)

== Mechanism ==
[[File:Uniporter attivo.gif|thumb|Mechanism of uniport transport across cell membrane]]Uniporters work to transport molecules or ions by [[passive transport]] across a cell membrane down its [[Fick's laws of diffusion|concentration gradient.]]

Upon binding and recognition of a specific substrate molecule on one side of the uniporter membrane, a [[conformational change]] is triggered in the transporter protein.<ref name="Fan">{{cite journal |vauthors=Fan M, Zhang J, Tsai CW, Orlando BJ, Rodriguez M, Xu Y, Liao M, Tsai MF, Feng L |title=Structure and mechanism of the mitochondrial Ca<sup>2+</sup> uniporter holocomplex |journal=Nature |volume=582 |issue=7810 |pages=129–133 |date=June 2020 |pmid=32494073 |pmc=7544431 |doi=10.1038/s41586-020-2309-6 |bibcode=2020Natur.582..129F }}</ref> This causes the transporter protein to change its three-dimensional shape, which ensures the substrate molecule is captured within the transporter proteins structure. The conformational change leads to the translocation of the substrate across the membrane onto the other side.<ref name="Fan" /> On the other side of the membrane, the uniporter undergoes another conformational change in the release of the substrate molecule. The uniporter returns to its original conformation to bind another molecule for transport.<ref name="Fan" />

Unlike [[symporter]]s and [[antiporter]]s, uniporters transport one molecule/ion in a single direction based on the concentration gradient.<ref name="Majumder P">{{cite journal |vauthors=Majumder P, Mallela AK, Penmatsa A |title=Transporters through the looking glass. An insight into the mechanisms of ion-coupled transport and methods that help reveal them |journal=J Indian Inst Sci |volume=98 |issue=3 |pages=283–300 |date=September 2018 |pmid=30686879 |pmc=6345361 |doi=10.1007/s41745-018-0081-5 }}</ref> The entire process depends on the substrate's concentration difference across the membrane to be the driving force for the transport by uniporters.<ref name="Majumder P" /> Cellular energy in the form of [[ATP-binding motif|ATP]] is not required for this process.<ref name="Majumder P" />