Chapter 7: Membrane Structure and Function

Concept 7.1 Cellular membranes are fluid mosaics of lipids and proteins
1. Phospholipids are amphipathic. Explain what this means.

Amphipathic molecules have both a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic region.

2. The currently accepted model of the membrane is the fluid mosaic model. Describe this
model.
In 1972, Singer and Nicolson proposed that membrane proteins reside in the phospholipid
bilayer with their hydrophilic regions protruding. This molecular arrangement maximizes
contact between the hydrophilic regions of proteins and phospholipids with water in the
cytosol and extracellular fluid, while providing their hydrophobic parts with a non- aqueous
environment. In this fluid mosaic model, the membrane is a mosaic of protein molecules
bobbing in a fluid bilayer of phospholipids.

3. What is meant by membrane fluidity?

Membranes are not static sheets of molecules locked rigidly in place. Most of the lipids and
some of the proteins can shift about laterally. It is quite rare for a molecule to flip-flop
transversely across the membrane, switching from one phospholipid layer to the other.

4. Describe how each of the following can affect membrane fluidity:

a. decreasing temperature: membrane remains fluid until phospholipids settle into a
closely packed arrangement and membrane solidify
b. phospholipids with unsaturated hydrocarbon chains:

because of kinks, cannot pack together as closely as saturated hydrocarbon tails.

makes membrane more fluid
c. cholesterol: fluidity buffer" resisting changes in membrane fluidity.

increasing the number of saturated hydrocarbon tails

5. Membrane proteins are the mosaic part of the model. Describe each of the two main
categories:
integral proteins:.
penetrate hydrophobic interior of the lipid bilayer. majority are transmembrane
proteins, which span the membrane.

peripheral proteins:
not embedded in the lipid bilayer; appendages loosely bound to the surface of the membrane,
often exposed to integral proteins.
6.

Study Figure 7.7 in your text. Use it to briefly describe the following major functions of
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membrane proteins.
Function
Transport

Description
spans membrane.
provide hydrophilic channel.
hydrolyze ATP.

shuttle substances from one side to the other.

Enzymatic activity

Signal transduction

Active side exposed to substances in

solution organized to carry out sequential
of a metabolic pathway
Binding site with specific shape such as
hormone cause protein to change shape,
relay message

Cell-cell recognition

glycoproteins serve as identification tags that

membranes of other cells recognize

Intercellular joining

membrane proteins hook together in

various junctions

7. Membrane carbohydrates are important in cell-cell recognition. What are two examples of
this?

1. glycolipids
2. glycoproteins

2. 8. Distinguish between glycolipids and glycoproteins.

Glycolipids:Lipid with one or more covalent attached carb
Glycoproteins:a protein with one or more covalently attached carb
9. Label the following components of an animal cell membrane on the figure. Note the

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role of each component.

See page 125 in your text for the labeled figure.

glycolipid glycoprotein integral protein peripheral protein cholesterol phospholipid

ECM fibers
cytoskeleton microfilaments
integrins (go back to Chapter 6, Figure 6.28)
Concept 7.2 Membrane structure results in selective permeability
10. Distinguish between channel proteins and carrier proteins.
A hydrophilic channel that molecules or atomic ions use as a tunnel through

the membrane.Carrier proteins hold onto their passengers and change shape in
a way that shuttles them across the membrane.
11. Are transport proteins specific? Cite an example that supports your response.
Specific for the substance it translocates, allowing only a certain substance to cross
membrane.

Red blood cells transport glucose across membrance

12. Peter Agre received the Nobel Prize in 2003 for the discovery of aquaporins. What are
they? Allows entry up to 3 billion water molecules per second, passing single file through its
central channel.
13. Consider the following materials that must cross the membrane. For each, tell how it is
moved across.
Material

Method

CO2

Cell takes in O2 for cellular respiration and expels CO2

Glucose

red blood cells transport glucose 50,000x faster than glucose alone in cell membrane

It would be ATP synthase (because after the channels are created, the H+ can move across the channels and into the matrix).

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O2

cells takes O2 for cellular respiration

H2O

Thru aqaporin allows 3 billion water molecules to enter per second

Concept 7.3 Passive transport is diffusion of a substance across a membrane with no energy
investment
14. Define the following terms:
Diffusion
the movement of molecules of any substance so that they spread evenly into the
available space
Concentration gradient
region along which the density of a chemical substances increases or decreases, each
substance diffuses down its own concentration gradient to expand.
passive transport
diffusion of a substance across a biological membrane because the cell doesnt have
energy to make it happen
osmosis
the diffusion of free water across a selectively permeable membrane, whether artificial
or cellular
Isotonic
a solution, that when surrounding a cell, causes no movement of water into or out of
the cell

hypertonic
a solution that when surrounding a cell, will case the cell to lost water

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hypotonic
a solution that, when surrounding a cell, will cause the cell to take up water
turgid
swollen or distended, as in plant cell (a walled cell becomes turgid f it has a lower
water potential than its surroundings, resulting in entry of water)
flaccid
limp. lacking turgor as in a plant cell in surroundings where there is a tendency for
water to leave the cell (higher water potential than surroundings)

plasmolysis
a phenomenon in walled calls in which the cytoplasm shrivels and the plasma
membrane pulls away from the cell wall; occurs when the cell loses water to a
hypertonic environment
15. Use as many word as possible from the previous list to describe why a carrot left
on the counter overnight becomes limp. Underline or highlight each word you use.

16. What is facilitated diffusion? Is it active or passive? Cite two examples.

polar molecules and ions impeded by the lipid bilayer oft he membrane diffuse passively with
the help of transport membranes that span the membrane

it is passive
17. In the following figure, label the hypotonic solution, isotonic solution, and hypertonic
solution. What is indicated by the blue arrows? Label them. Which cell is lysed? Turgid?
Flaccid? Plasmolyzed? Apply all these labels. 1st cell - hypo 2nd cell iso 3rd cell hyper

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See page 132 in your text for the labeled figure.

18. Why does the red blood cell burst when placed in a hypotonic solution, but not the plant
cell?

RBC swells in hypotonic and bursts. plant cell have turgid and healthiest in
hypotonic. water to pump a cell solute across a membrane against its gradient
uptake is work. cell must expend energy.
Concept 7.4 Active transport uses energy to move solutes against their gradients
19. Describe active transport. What type of transport proteins are involved, and what is the
role of ATP in the process?
ATP transfers its terminal phosphate group directly to the transport protein

20.

The sodium-potassium pump is an important system for you to know. Use the
following diagram to understand how it works. Use these terms to label the figures,
and
+
+
briefly summarize what is occurring in each: extracellular fluid, cytoplasm, Na , K , ATP,
ADP, P, and transport protein.
See page 135 in your text for the labeled figure.

Summary

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1. cytoplasmic Na+ binds to the sodium potassium pump. Affinity for NA+ is high when
protein is in this shape

2. Na+ binding stimulates phosphorilation by ATP

3. Phosphorilation leads to a change in protein shape, reducing its affinity for NA+ which
is released outside

4. New shape has a high affinity for K+ which binds on extracellular side and triggers
release of phosphate group

5.loss of phosphate group restores the proteins original shape, which has a lower affinity
for K+

6. K+ is released, affinity for A+ is high again, and the cycle repeats.

21. On the following diagram, add these labels: facilitated diffusion with a carrier protein,
facilitated diffusion with a channel protein, active transport with a carrier protein, and
simple diffusion. For each type of transport, give an example of a material that is moved
in this manner.
See page 135 in your text for the labeled figure.

Examples:
22. What is membrane potential? Which side of the membrane is positive?

the difference in electrical charge (voltage) across a cells plasma membrane

due to the differential distribution of ions. membrane potential effects the
activity of excitable cells and the transmembrane movement of all charged
substances.
23. What are the two forces that drive the diffusion of ions across the membrane? What is the
combination of these forces called?1. chemical and electrical force.
2. electrochemical gradient
24. What is cotransport? Explain how understanding it is used in our treatment of diarrhea.
the coupling of the downhill diffusion one substance to the uphill transport of another
against its own concentration gradient. sodium-glucose cotransporters on the surface of the
intestinal cells and passed thru cells int he blood

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

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25. Define each of the following, and give a specific cellular example.

exocytosis
the cellular secretion of biological molecules by the fusion of vesicles containing them
with the plasma membrane
endocytosis
cellular uptake of biological molecules and particulate matter via formation of vesicles
from the plasma membrane
receptor-mediated endocytosis
the movement of specific molecules into a cell by the inward budding of vesicles
containing proteins with receptor sites specific to the molecules being taken in; enables
a cell to acquire bulk quantities of substance
Phagocytosis
A type of endocytosis in which large particular substances or small organisms are
taken up by a cell. it is carried out by some protists and by certain immune cells of
animals
pinocytosis
a type of endocytosis in which the cell ingests the extracellular fluid and its dissolved
solutes.

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26. What is a ligand? What do ligands have to do with receptor-mediated endocytosis?

ligand
a molecules that binds specifically to take in cholesterol for membrane
synthesis another molecule, usually a larger one. and synthesis of other
steroids.

27. Are the processes you described in question 26 active or passive transport? Explain your
response.
Yes because its moving cholesterols and steroids through membranes.

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