Chapter 7: Membrane Structure and Function

Selectively Permeable membranes allow some materials to cross them more easily than other which enables the cell to maintain a unique internal environment Plasma membrane

7.1 Cellular membranes are fluid mosaics of lipids and proteins

Fluid mosaic model – the structure of biological membranes consists of proteins that are attached to or embedded in a bilayer of amphipathic phospholipids

Models for cell membranes Two dutch scientists (1925)- cell membranes must be a phospholipid bilayer with hydrophobic hydrocarbon tais and hydrophillic heads Davison and Danielli (1935)– A bilayer of phospholipids is coveered with a coat of hydrophillic proteins Singer & Nicolson (1972) – Fluid mosaic model

Membranes are held together by weak hydrophobic interactions that allow the lipids and some proteins(directed by cytoskeletal fibers) to drift laterally Some proteins held rigidly by cytoskeleton Phospholipids with unsaturated tails maintain fluidity at lower temperatures Cholesterol (animals) restricts movement of phospholipids and reduces fluidity at warmer temperatures but by preventing the close packing of lipids enhances fluidity at lower temperatures

Integral proteins often extend through the membrane (transmembrane) with two hydrophilic ends. The middle is alpha- helical hydrophobic amino acid(s) Peripheral proteins are attached to the surface of the membrane or integral proteins. When these attach to the cytoskeleton while in the cytoplasm and extracellular matrix on the exterior a supportive framework for the plasma membrane is made

Glycolipids and glycoproteins attached to the outside of plasma membranes vary from species to species, from individual to individual and even among cell types. These aide with the ability of a cell to distinguish other cells based on recognition of membrane carbohydrates

7.2 Membrane Structure results in selective permeability

The plasma membrane permits a regular exchange of nutrients, waste products, oxygen and inorganic ions. Biological membranes are selectively permeable. Hydrophobic nonpolar molecules can dissolve in and cross a membrane Ions and polar molecules may move across the plasma membrane with the aid of transport proteins Hydrophillic passageways are provided for specific molecules by channel proteins (aquaporins – water passage) Carrier proteins physically bind and transport a specific molecule(s)

7.3 Passive transport is diffusion of a substance across a membrane with no energy investment

Diffusion is the movement of a substance down its concentration gradient due to random thermal motion. The cell does not expend energy when substances diffuese across membranes down their concentration gradients Passive transport

Osmosis is the diffusion of water across a selectively permeable membrane Tonicity is the tendency of a cell to gain and lose water in a given solution Affected by the relative concentration of solutes that cannot cross the membrane in the solution and the cell. Isotonic – an animal cell will neither gain nor lose Hypertonic – An animal cell has more nonpenetrating solutes so loses water and shrivels Hypotonic – An animal cell will gain water swell and possibly lyse (burst) Cells without rigid walls must live in an isotonic environment or have adaptions in osmoregulation – the control of water balance

Animal cell

In plants Turgid cells provide mechanical support for nonwoody plants (the “normal” state) Plant cells in an isotonic surrounding are flaccid Plant cells undergo plasmolysis (pulling away of the plasma membrane from the cell wall as water leaves and the cell shrivels) in a hypertonic medium

Facilitated diffusion involves the diffusion of polar molecules and ions across a membrane with the aid of transport proteins (channel or carrier) Many ion channels are gated channels which will open or close in response to electrical or chemical stimuli

7.4 Active transport uses energy to move solutes against their gradients

Active transport requires the expenditure of energy to transport a solute against its concentration cradient Essential for a cell to maintain internal concentrations. Sodium-potassium pump exchanges N+ and K+ across animal cell membranes Cells have a membrane potential* – a voltage across the plasma membrane due to the unequal distribution of ions. Cytoplasm is negative relative to the extracellular fluid Membrane potential favors the diffusion of cations into the cell and anions out of the cell Electrochemical gradient – what an ion diffuses down Electrogenic pumps – membrane proteins that generate voltage across a membrane by the active transport of ions

A proton pump that transport H+ outside of the cell generates voltage across membranes in plants, fungi and bacteria. Cotransport is a mechanism through which the active transport of a solute is indirectly driven by an ATP-powered pump that transports another substance across its gradient. As that transported substance then diffuses back down its concentration gradient through a cotransporter, the solute is carried against its concentration gradient across the membrane

7.5 Bulk transport across the plasma membrane occurs by exocytosis and endocytosis

Requires energy Exocytosis – the cell secretes large molecules by the fusion of vesicles with the plasma membrane Endocytosis – a region of the plasma membrane sinks inward and pinches off to forma vesicle containing material that had been outside the cell Phagocytosis – psuedopodia wrap around food particles Pinocytosis – droplets of extracellular fluid are taken into the cell in small vesicles Receptor mediated endocytosis allows a cell to acquire specific substances from extracellular fluid Ligands – molecules that bind specifically to receptor sites