A family of biological membrane proteins which allow the passive movement of ions (ion channels), water (aquaporins) or other solutes to passively pass through the membrane down their electrochemical gradient.
Famous quotes containing the word channel:
“How old the world is! I walk between two eternities.... What is my fleeting existence in comparison with that decaying rock, that valley digging its channel ever deeper, that forest that is tottering and those great masses above my head about to fall? I see the marble of tombs crumbling into dust; and yet I don’t want to die!”
—Denis Diderot (1713–1784)