Membrane Fluidity Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in Membrane Fluidity Deck (13)
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1
Q

What is the basic idea of the fluid membrane model (fluid mosaic)

A

-Membrane at physiological temperature is fluid & dynamic

2
Q

What are the fluid abilities a result of?

A
  • Properties of Phospholipids, triglycerides, & fatty acids
  • Fatty acids= by way that P.lipids & triglycerides stick to eachother
  • It is the natural relationship between the fluidity of a membrane (composed of p.lipids) & fluidity of triglycerides
3
Q

What does membrane fluidity resemble?

A
  • Oil at room temperature

- More like triglyceride w/ fatty acids that are unsaturated= move as a liquid

4
Q

What is the relationship between membrane fluidity & temperature?

A
  • As the temperature increases, the membrane becomes more fluid
  • As the temperature decreases, the membrane becomes less fluid
5
Q

How did Brian & Eddiden measure fluidity?

A
  • Experimented w/ human cell that was colored red & a mouse cell that was colored green (takes 10-20 mins to mix membrane proteins)
  • If both cells fused together & the colors mixed, then the membrane is fluid
  • If the colors don’t mix then the membrane is static
6
Q

How can cells maintain their desired fluidity of their membranes?

A
  • By changing their fatty acids in the phospholipids

- It is necessary since a cell can function ONLY at a limited range of membrane fluidity

7
Q

How would a cell increase it’s membrane fluidity?

A

-Adding Unsaturated fatty acids w/ shorter fatty acid chains

8
Q

How would a cell Decrease it’s membrane fluidity?

A

-Adding Saturated fatty acids w/ longer fatty acid chains

9
Q

How would a cell reach their goal to keep the membrane fluidity constant?

A
  • Actively change it’s membrane components to compensate for environmental temperature changes
  • Cells from different organisms from different natural temperatures (or cells from same organisms w/ same natural temps) are gonna have different membrane components
10
Q

How will a cell respond to temperature Decrease?

A
  • Since temperature is decreased, the membrane is now LESS fluid so the cells job is to make it MORE fluid
  • Cell can make new Phospholipids w/ more unsaturated fatty acids w/ shorter fatty acid chains
  • Some cells can also use “Desaturase” Enzymes to alter the fatty acids that are already present by introducing a double bond to increase fluidity
11
Q

How will a cell respond to temperature Increase?

A

-They can make Phospholipids w/ fewer unsaturated fatty acids w/ longer fatty acid chains

12
Q

What about cells at Naturally higher temperatures?

A

-They’re going to have more saturated fatty acids & longer fatty acid chains

13
Q

What about cells at Naturally lower temperatures?

A

-They’re going to have more unsaturated fatty acids w/ shorter fatty acids chains