MCDB 1150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Sphingolipid, Ganglioside, Membrane Lipids
17 Nov 2016
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What is a membrane? (on notes for previous two classes) Understand the differences in fatty acids and phospholipids that make them behave very differently in water. Fatty acid forms a single layer sphere. Fatty acid tails vary in length and saturation. Sometimes you find one fully saturated fatty acid tail and then an unsaturated fatty acid tail. Be able to draw a cartoon diagram of a phospholipid. Tend to have longer fa tails (important distinction!) Building blocks of a fat glycerol and fatty acids. In phospholipids (unlike fat), instead of a third fatty acid tail there is a phosphate group. Backbone is different from phospholipid not glycerol. Different because they"re not based on glycerol. Two fatty acid tails tend to be longer and more saturated (important for the function of the membrane) May or may not have a phosphate group (varies) If the r group is a sugar that sphingolipid is called a ganglioside.
