sodium pump

noun

1. an energy-consuming mechanism in cell membranes that transports sodium ions across the membrane, in exchange for potassium ions or other substances.

Word History and Origins

Origin of sodium pump¹

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

The researchers compared the genes that serve as blueprints for the sodium pump in poison-resistant species, like the milkweed beetle and the milkweed bug.

From New York Times

They can tolerate this food source because of a peculiarity in a crucial protein in their bodies, a sodium pump, that the cardenolide toxins usually interfere with.

From Scientific American

In 2012, evolutionary biologist Noah Whiteman, now at the University of California, Berkeley, and a colleague proposed in a commentary that one could answer the question by engineering the monarch sodium pump mutations into fruit flies.

From Scientific American

Some flies had one mutation of three seen in the sodium pump gene of monarchs, and some had combinations.

From Scientific American

First, a mutation of small effect would have altered the structure of the sodium pump to provide some resistance, but also some neurological problems.

From Scientific American