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What is a fluid mosaic model?
Theory of cell membrane structure with proteins embedded in a sea of phospholipids.
What is a glycolipid?
Lipid/phospholipid with a chain of carbohydrate molecules attached.
What is a plasma membrane?
A cell surface membrane.
What is a glycoprotien?
protein with a chain of carbohydrate molecules attached.
Cell membranes form a barrier to separate the cells contents from the cells or organelles exterior environment. How do molecules pass into, out of or through the membrane?
Some very small molecules diffuse straight through the cells membrane, in-between its structural molecules.
Some substances dissolve in the lipid layer and pass through.
Other substances pass through special protein channels or are carried by other proteins.
How is the permeability of a membrane described and why?
Membranes are described as partially permeable, this is because they do not let all type of molecule pass though them.
The properties of the component molecules of the cell membrane determines its permeability, i.e. which molecules it allows pass through.
What is the purpose of a plasma membrane?
Separates the cells components from its external environment.
Regulates transport of materials in and out of the cell.
May contain enzymes involved in specific metabolic pathways.
Has antigens so that the organism’s immune system can recognise the cell as being ‘self’ and not attack it.
May release chemicals to signal other cells.
Contains chemical receptors for such chemical signal, and so is a site for cell communication or signalling
What a the inner membranes of mitochondria called and what is their purpose?
Mitochondria have inner folded membranes called cristae. These give a large surface area for some of the reactions of aerobic respiration and localise some of the enzymes needed for respiration to occur.
What a the inner membranes of chloroplasts called and what is their purpose?
The inner membranes of chloroplasts, called thylakoid membranes, house chlorophyll. On these membranes some of the reactions of photosynthesis occur.
Where and why is there some digestive enzymes on the plasma membranes.
There are some digestive enzymes on the plasma membrane of epithelial cells that line the small intestine, and these enzymes catalyse some of the final stages in the breakdown of certain types of sugars.
Who proposed a model that allowed the passage of molecules through the membrane, and when?
In 1972 Singer and Nicolson proposed a model.
What did the fluid mosaic model explain?
Their structure explained how cell membranes could be more dynamic and interact more with the cells environment. It was called the fluid mosaic model.
What did the fluid mosaic model propose?
That the fabric of the membrane consisted of a phospholipid bi-layer (double layer) with proteins floating in it, making up a mosaic patten. The lipid molecules can change places with each other, and some proteins may move giving fluidity.
In a membrane explain the two layers of phospholipid molecules.
The fabric of the membrane is the lipid bilayer made up of two layers of phospholipid molecules. Their hydrophilic heads are in contact with the watery exterior or watery interior (cytoplasm). The hydrophobic tail regions are in the centre of the membrane, away from the water.
Name all the proteins in the fluid mosaic model.
Channel protein, peripheral protein, carrier protein (intrinsic) and extrinsic proteins.
Give some extra detail on channel proteins.
Water-filled channel inside the channel protein is lined with hydrophobic heads and hydrophilic tails.
How far do channel and carrier proteins span, explain.
Channel and carrier proteins span the whole lipid bilayer - they are integral proteins and their membrane-spanning regions interact with the hydrophobic region of the phospholipid bi-layer.
Describe a phospholipid.
Their spherical phosphate head has a charge and is hydrophilic.
Their fatty acid tails (2) are hydrophobic.
What is the purpose of the carbohydrate chain?
Carbohydrate molecules (glycocalyx) on the outside of the membrane are very hydrophilic and attract water with dissolved solutes, helping the cell interact with its watery environment and obtain dissolved substances.
What is a carbohydrate chain called and what is its structure.
Glycoprotiens are carbohydrate chains attached to a protein molecule.
Glycolipids are carbohydrate chains attached to a lipid.
What may an extrinsic protein act as?
Protein not spanning the lipid bilayer may act as an enzyme.
How thick is a phospholipid bilayer.
about 7 nm in width.
What maintains mechanical stability and flexibility?
Eukaryotic cell membranes contain cholesterol, which is important for helping to regulate the fluidity of the membrane, maintain mechanical stability and resist the effects of the temperature changes on the structure of the membrane.
What is the top of a channel protein called?
A protein receptor site.