Module 2A - Membrane structure Flashcards
(133 cards)
encloses the cell, defines its boundaries, and maintains the essential differences between the cytosol and the extracellular environment.
Plasma membrane
What does the plasma membrane maintains?
- characteristics differences between the contents of each organelle and the cytosol.
Characteristics differences between the contents of each organelle and cytosol
-ion gradients
-protein sensors or receptors
-lipid bilayer
-membrane proteins
- established by the activities of specialized membrane proteins
- can be used to synthesize ATP, to drive the transmembrane movement of selected solutes, or, in nerve and muscle cells, to produce and transmit electrical signals.
ion gradients
- the plasma membrane also contains proteins that act as sensors of external signals, allowing the cell to change its behavior in response to environmental cues
- transfer information—rather than ions or molecules—across the membrane.
proteins sensors or receptors
provides the basic structure for all cell membranes
lipid bilayer
50% of the mass of the most
animal cell membranes
lipids
Lipids are ___% of the mass of most animal cell membranes
50%
lipid molecules are
____
amphiphilic
What is it called when a lipid contains a hydrophobic tail and hydrophilic heads?
Amphiphilic
- are the most abundant membrane lipids
phospholipids
Parts of typical phospholipid molecule
have a polar head group (hydrophilic head) and two hydrophobic hydrocarbon tails
Has phosphate group
Head
composition of hydrophobic tails
two hydrophobic hydrocarbon tails
creates kink in the tail
cis-double bonds (unsaturated)
Major lipids in the cell membranes
-phosphooglycerides
-sphingolipids
-sphingomyelin
-glycolipids
-cholesterol
-main phospholipids
-three-carbon glycerol backbone
-3rd carbon is attached to a phosphate group, which is linked to a head group.
Phosphoglycerides
Examples of phosphoglycerides
-phosphatidylethanolamine
-phosphatidylserine
-phosphatidylcholine
from sphingosine (long acyl acyl chain with an amino group (NH2) and two hydroxyl groups (OH)
Sphingolipids
-most common sphingolipid
-a fatty acid tail is attached to the amino group, and a phosphocholine group is attached to the terminal hydroxyl group.
Sphingomyelin
resemble sphingolipids; sugars
glycolipids
sterol; contains a rigid ring structure, to which attached a single polar hydroxyl group and a short nonpolar hydrocarbon chain
cholesterol
The _____ and _________ nature of the phospholipd molecules cause them to form bilayers spontaneously in aqueous environments.
nature, amphiphilic
spontaneously aggregate to bury their hydrophobic tails in the interior
amphiphilic molecules