Schavemaker Paul E, Boersma Arnold J, Poolman Bert
Department of Biochemistry, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.
Front Mol Biosci. 2018 Nov 13;5:93. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2018.00093. eCollection 2018.
That diffusion is important for the proper functioning of cells is without question. The extent to which the diffusion coefficient is important is explored here for prokaryotic cells. We discuss the principles of diffusion focusing on diffusion-limited reactions, summarize the known values for diffusion coefficients in prokaryotes and in model systems, and explain a number of cases where diffusion coefficients are either limiting for reaction rates or necessary for the existence of phenomena. We suggest a number of areas that need further study including expanding the range of organism growth temperatures, direct measurements of diffusion limitation, expanding the range of cell sizes, diffusion limitation for membrane proteins, and taking into account cellular context when assessing the possibility of diffusion limitation.
毫无疑问，扩散对于细胞的正常功能至关重要。本文探讨了扩散系数对原核细胞的重要程度。我们讨论了扩散的原理，重点关注扩散限制反应，总结了原核生物和模型系统中扩散系数的已知值，并解释了一些扩散系数对反应速率具有限制作用或对现象的存在必不可少的情况。我们提出了一些需要进一步研究的领域，包括扩大生物体生长温度范围、直接测量扩散限制、扩大细胞大小范围、膜蛋白的扩散限制，以及在评估扩散限制可能性时考虑细胞环境。
