Cotransporter

Definition

A cotransporter is a type of membrane transport protein that facilitates transport across a biological membrane of two entities (ions or molecules) in a coupled fashion: it moves one entity along its concentration gradient and another entity opposite its concentration gradient.

Relation with other concepts

Broader concepts

Concept	Meaning	Relationship with the concept of cotransporter	Intermediate notions
membrane transport protein	protein that facilitates movement across a biological membrane	cotransporters are a type of membrane transport protein; uniporters are another kind	|FULL LIST, MORE INFO
transmembrane protein	protein that is attached to both sides of the bilipid layer of a biological membrane	(via membrane transport protein)	Membrane transport protein|FULL LIST, MORE INFO
integral membrane protein	protein that is permanently attached to a biological membrane	(via transmembrane protein)	Membrane transport protein|FULL LIST, MORE INFO
membrane protein	protein that interacts with a biological membrane	(via integral membrane protein)	Membrane transport protein|FULL LIST, MORE INFO

Narrower concepts

Concept	Meaning	Relationship with the concept of cotransporter	Intermediate notions
antiporter	coupled transporter where one entity is transported from inside to outside, the other is transported from outside to inside	antiporter is a type of cotransporter where the two transports are in opposite directions; symporters transport both in the same direction	|FULL LIST, MORE INFO
symporter	coupled transporter where both entities are transported in the same direction	symporter is a type of cotransporter where the two transports are in opposite directions; antiporters transport both in opposite directions	|FULL LIST, MORE INFO