BIOLOGY 1A03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Lipid Raft, Facilitated Diffusion, Hydrolysis

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Biology
• Course: BIOLOGY 1A03
• Professor: R. Da Silva, L. Kajiura, A. Tracey

Document Summary

Bio1a03 lecture 3 structure of cells. Phospholipids make up majority of the cell membrane. Membranes separate the internal and external environment. Phospholipids consist of 16 or 18 carbons in a single chain. Unsaturated has double bonds which makes the kink in the tail, this tail acts as a spaced area which allows for easier flow. These properties change behaviour of the membrane itself. More hydrophobic interactions with saturated bonds as they are tightly packed together. So, unsaturated bonds add more fluidity than saturated bonds in the membrane. A reason the cell membrane is fluid is because the lipid raft carries proteins and let them interact together. Temperature affects fluidity in the cell membrane as well as in warm temp fluidity is increased due to kinetic energy and kinetic vibrations. When lake ontario freezes fish adapt to the cold and do not freeze and die as cholesterol in their cell membranes prevents saturated tails from being to packed together.