Transcript MEMBRANE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
Membrane Structure and Function
Chapter 8
• Plasma membrane of cell selectively permeable (allows some substances to cross more easily than others) • Made mostly of proteins and lipids (phospholipids).
• Phospholipids and proteins create unique physical environment (fluid mosaic model)
Phospholipid
• Membrane - bilayer - hydrophilic (water loving) heads pointing outwards, hydrophobic (water fearing) tails pointing inwards.
• Proteins help membrane to stick to water.
• Fluid because lipids and proteins can move laterally.
• As temperatures drop, liquid membrane can solidify.
• Saturated fatty acid tails - more solid than unsaturated fatty acid tails.
• Cholesterol found in membrane helps with fluidity of membrane.
• Membranes need to be fluid to work properly - systems in place to help keep it fluid.
• Two different types of proteins are found in membrane.
• 1 Peripheral proteins not in membrane, bound to surface of protein.
• 2 Integral proteins in membrane often spanning entire membrane.
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/M/MembraneProteins.gif
• Membrane helps keep cell’s shape.
• Also aids in cell-to-cell recognition (ability of a cell to distinguish one type of neighboring cell from another)
• Some substances move steadily across membrane (sugars, ions, and wastes like CO easily.
2 ) • Hydrophobic molecules (i.e. hydrocarbons, CO 2 , and O 2 ) can dissolve in lipid bilayer and cross
• Charged particles and polar molecules have more difficulty passing.
• Specific ions and polar molecules can cross lipid bilayer by passing through transport proteins that span membrane.
• Diffusion - tendency for substance to spread out in open area.
• Permeable membrane separating a solution with dye molecules from pure water, dye molecules will cross barrier randomly.
• No force acting upon it - substance will tend to move down it’s concentration gradient from where it is more concentrated to less concentrated (passive transport).
• Diffusion of molecules with limited permeability through lipid bilayer may be assisted by transport proteins.
http://library.thinkquest.org/27819/media/protein_channel.gif
• Difference in concentration - ions move from one area to other.
• Solution with higher [ ] solutes hypertonic.
• Solution with lower [ ] solutes hypotonic.
• [ ] equal - isotonic.
http://www.biologycorner.com/resources/hypertonic.gif
http://www.biologycorner.com/resources/hypotonic.gif
• Solution hypertonic - higher solute [ ] but lower H 2 O [ ].
• H 2 O moves into solution and solute moves out.
• Movement of H osmosis.
2 O across selectively permeable membrane • 2 solutions isotonic, H 2 other, (no net osmosis) O molecules move at equal rates from one to the
• Cell placed in hypertonic solution – H H 2 2 0 rushes out of cell (cell shrinks).
• Cell placed in hypotonic solution – O rushes into cell (cell swells).
• Organism does not have rigid walls must have ability to osmoregulate and maintain internal environment.
• Plant cells expand when watered causing pressure to be exerted against cell wall.
• Allows plant to stand up against gravity (turgid cell); not watered, plant will begin to wilt (flaccid cell).
• Plant loses enough water, plasma membrane will pull away from cell (plasmolysis).
http://faculty.southwest.tn.edu/jiwilliams/plasmolysis.gif
• Charged particles that cannot pass through membrane - proteins to pass through (facilitated diffusion - diffusion of substance down it’s [ ] gradient with help of transport protein) • Some channel proteins (gated channels) open/close depending on presence/absence of physical or chemical stimulus.
In this case, the protein actually rotates to dump the materials to the inside of the cell.
• Sometimes materials need to be moved against [ ] gradient (active transport) • Active transport requires energy of cell to move substances from an area of low [ ] to an area of high [ ] (i.e. sodium-potassium pump in animal cells)
http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~terry/images/anim/antiport.gif
• Sodium-potassium pump actively maintains gradient of sodium (Na + ) and potassium ions (K + ) across membrane.
• Sodium-potassium pump uses energy of 1 ATP to pump 3 Na + out and 2 K + ions in.
ions
• Cells maintain voltage across plasma membranes.
• Cytoplasm negative compared to opposite side of membrane (membrane potential - ranges from -50 to -200 millivolts)
http://bioweb.wku.edu/courses/Biol131/images/neuronions.GIF
• Membrane potential favors passive transport of cations (positive ions) into cell and anions (negative ions) out of cell.
• Creates an electrochemical gradient across membrane.
• Some organisms have proton pumps that actively pump H + out of cell (i.e. plants, bacteria, and fungi)
• Materials leave membrane through lipid bilayer or through transport proteins.
• Exocytosis - transport vesicle buds from Golgi apparatus - moved by cytoskeleton to plasma membrane.
• When membranes meet - fuse material is let out to outside of cell.
• Endocytosis - cell brings in macromolecules and matter by forming new vesicles from plasma membrane.
• Membrane is inwardly pinched off and vesicle carries material to inside of cell.
http://www.kscience.co.uk/as/module1/pictures/endoexo.jpg
• 1 Phagocytosis (“cell eating”) - cell engulfs particle by extending pseudopodia around it, packaging it in a large vacuole.
• Contents of vacuole are digested when vacuole fuses with lysosome.
• 2 Pinocytosis (cell drinking) - cell creates vesicle around droplet of extracellular fluid.
• 3 Receptor-mediated endocytosis specific in transported substances.
• Extracellular materials bind ligands (receptors) - causes vesicle to form.
• Allows materials to be engulfed in bulk (i.e. cholesterol in humans)