BCH210H1 Lecture 13: Lipids
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BCH210H1 Full Course Notes
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Document Summary
Todays lecture we will cover another important class of biomolecules lipids. These diverse molecules serve important functions in biological systems. Lipids serve as energy stores and structural components of membranes. Membranes as you recall are vital for cell integrity and separation of cellular processes and organelles. Specialized lipids also play a role in signal transduction, mediating the cellular responses to membrane receptor activation. Before we discuss of roles of lipids in cellular systems, we will look at structures and properties of these molecules. Basic definitions of lipid are water insoluble molecules that are highly soluble in organic solvents. Salt (nacl) which is known to be a water-soluble compound and mix it with water, it dissolves readily and forms a homogenous solution. However lipids: if the compound is water insoluble it means that when combined with water, the compound and water will stay separated and not mixed.
