Lactose permease
Encyclopedia
Lactose permease has a structure that consists of two halves, each of which comprises six membrane-spanning alpha helices.

The two halves are well separated and are joined by a single stretch of polypeptide.
The sugar lies in a pocket in the center of the protein and is accessible from a path that leads from the interior of the cell.

The X-ray crystal structure was solved in 2003 by J. Abramson.

Function

Lactose permease can be classified as a symporter
Symporter
A cotransporter is an integral membrane protein that is involved in secondary active transport. It works by binding to two molecules or ions at a time and using the gradient of one solute's concentration to force the other molecule or ion against its gradient....

, which uses the gradient of H+ towards the cell to transfer lactose along into the cell.
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