Nature 227, 705 - 707 (15 August 1970); doi:10.1038/227705a0

 

MAHENDRA K. JAIN, ALFRED STRICKHOLM, FREDERICK P. WHITE & E. H. CORDES

Departments of Chemistry, Anatomy and Physiology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47401.

 

BLACK lipid membranes (BLM) have been found to be useful and realistic models for biological membranes1, showing selective ionic2,3 and proton4,5 permeabilities, differential negative conductance6,7, the photovoltaic effect8, excitability9, ability to support active transport10 and the capacity to interact with leucocytic granules11. Biological membranes may also function in the transport of electrons between redox carriers on opposite sides of the membrane: Mitchell12 has advocated the coupling of such electron transfer with transmembrane proton translocation as an essential aspect of energy conservation in the redox process of the respiratory chain in mitochondrial and photosynthetic systems. We describe here a partial model for this process in which electronic charge transfer occurs across a BLM.

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