Lesson 6.

Transport
Mechanisms
What is the relationship of these
photos in our class?
• In cellular biology, membrane transport refers to the collection of
mechanisms that regulate the passage of solutes such as ions and small
molecules through biological membranes, which are lipid bilayers that
contain proteins embedded in them
• Plasma membrane (Cell Membrane) plays a vital role in the transport
mechanisms and separates the living cell from its surroundings. To
perform these roles, it needs lipids, which make a semi-permeable barrier
between the cell and its environment. It also needs proteins, which are
involved in cross-membrane transport and cell communication, and
carbohydrates (sugars and sugar chains), which decorate both the
proteins and lipids and help cells recognize each other.
• The modern understanding of the cellular or plasma membrane is
referred to as the fluid mosaic model or fluid mosaics of lipids
and proteins. It is composed of a bilayer of phospholipids, with
their hydrophobic, fatty acid tails in contact with each other

In 1935, Davson-Danielli, the sandwich In 1972, S. J. Singer and G. Nicolson

model of membrane structure stated that proposed that the membrane is a
the membrane was made up of a mosaic of proteins dispersed within the
phospholipid bilayer sandwiched bilayer, with only the hydrophilic regions
between two protein layers. exposed to water.
• The landscape of the membrane is studded with proteins, some of which span the membrane.
Some of these proteins serve to transport materials into or out of the cell.
• Carbohydrates are attached to some of the proteins and lipids on the outward-facing surface of
the membrane, forming complexes which function is to identify the cell to other cells.
• Cell membranes enclose and define the borders of cells, but rather than being a static bag, they
are dynamic and constantly in flux.
• The Fluidity of the membrane is due to temperature, the configuration
of the unsaturated fatty acid tails (some kinked or form a sharp twist by
double bonds), the presence of cholesterol embedded in the
membrane, and the mosaic nature of the proteins and protein-
carbohydrate combinations, which are not firmly fixed in place.

Key Takes of the Fluid Nature of the CM:

• Phospholipids in the plasma membrane
can move within the bilayer
• Most of the lipids, and some proteins,
drift laterally
Lateral movement occurs
107 times per second.
Flip-flopping across the
membrane is rare (~ once per
• Rarely does a molecule flip-flop
month).
transversely across the membrane
 Fluid Viscous
• As temperatures cool, membranes switch
from a fluid state to a solid state.
• The temperature at which a membrane
solidifies depends on the types of lipids.
• Membranes rich in unsaturated fatty acids
are more fluid than those rich in saturated
fatty acids.
Unsaturated hydrocarbon tails Saturated hydrocarbon tails
• Membranes must be fluid to work properly;
they are usually about as fluid as salad Oil.
(a) Unsaturated versus saturated
• The steroid cholesterol has different effects hydrocarbon tails

on membrane fluidity at different

temperatures.
• At warm temperatures (such as 37°C),
cholesterol restrains movement of
Phospholipids.
• At cool temperatures, it maintains fluidity (b) Cholesterol within the animal
Cholesterol
cell membrane
by preventing tight packing.
 COMPONENT LOCATION FEATURE/FUNCTION
• the most abundant lipid in the
Phospholipids Main fabric of the membrane plasma membrane
• are amphipathic molecules
Tucked between the hydrophobic tails of
Cholesterol Dampen effects of temperature
the membrane phospholipids
Embedded in the phospholipid bilayer; may Transport of substance through
Integral Proteins
or may not extend through both layers membrane
On the inner or outer surface of the
Peripheral Proteins phospholipid bilayer, but not embedded in Cell recognition
its hydrophobic core
Attached to proteins or lipids on the • Cell recognition
Carbohydrate Chains extracellular side of the membrane • Effective interaction with the
(forming glycoproteins and glycolipids acqueous environment
Terminologies on point
Amphiphilic or Amphipathic
• molecule possessing a polar or charged area and a nonpolar or uncharged area
capable of interacting with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic environments
Fluid mosaic model
• describes the structure of the plasma membrane as a mosaic of components
including phospholipids, cholesterol, proteins, glycoproteins, and glycolipids
(sugar chains attached to proteins or lipids, respectively), resulting in a fluid
character (fluidity)
Glycolipid
• combination of carbohydrates and lipids
Glycoprotein
• combination of carbohydrates and proteins
Terminologies on point
Hydrophilic
• molecule with the ability to bond with water; “water-loving”
Hydrophobic
• molecule that does not have the ability to bond with water; “water-hating”
Integral protein
• protein integrated into the membrane structure that interacts extensively with the
hydrocarbon chains of membrane lipids and often spans the membrane; these
proteins can be removed only by the disruption of the membrane by detergents
Peripheral protein
• protein found at the surface of a plasma membrane either on its exterior or
interior side; these proteins can be removed (washed off of the membrane) by a
high-salt wash
The Relationship of the Structure and
Composition of the Cell Membrane to
its Function
Recall: Plasma Membrane
• The plasma membrane protects the cell from its external environment,
mediates cellular transport, and transmits cellular signals.
• The principal components of the plasma membrane are lipids
(phospholipids and cholesterol), proteins, and carbohydrates.
• The plasma membrane protects intracellular components from the
extracellular environment.
• The plasma membrane mediates cellular processes by regulating the
materials that enter and exit the cell.
• The plasma membrane carries markers that allow cells to recognize one
another and can transmit signals to other cells via receptors.
The plasma membrane
(also known as the cell
membrane or cytoplasmic
membrane) is a biological
membrane that divides the
interior of a cell from its
outside environment.
• The primary function of the plasma membrane is to protect the cell from
its surroundings.
• Composed of a phospholipid bilayer with embedded proteins, the
plasma membrane is selectively permeable to ions and organic
molecules and regulates the movement of substances in and out of
cells.
• Plasma membranes must be very flexible to allow certain cells, such as
red blood cells and white blood cells, to change shape as they pass
through narrow capillaries.
• The plasma membrane also plays a role in anchoring the cytoskeleton to
provide shape and integrity to the cell, and in attaching to the
extracellular matrix and other cells to help group cells together to form
tissues. The membrane also maintains the cell potential.
 Cellular Signaling/ Recognition’s Relation to the Plasma Membrane

• Among the most sophisticated functions of the plasma membrane is its ability
to transmit signals via complex proteins. These proteins can be receptors,
which work as receivers of extracellular inputs and as activators of intracellular
processes, or markers, which allow cells to recognize each other.
• Membrane receptors provide extracellular attachment sites for effectors like
hormones and growth factors, which then trigger intracellular responses. Some
viruses, such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), can hijack these
receptors to gain entry into the cells, causing infections.
• Membrane markers allow cells to recognize one another, which is vital for
cellular signaling processes that influence tissue and organ formation during
early development. This marking function also plays a later role in the “self”-
versus-“non-self” distinction of the immune response. Marker proteins on
human red blood cells, for example, determine blood type (A, B, AB, or O).

Terminology:
Receptor- A protein on a cell wall that binds with specific molecules so that they can be absorbed into the cell.
Cellular Transport Mechanisms’ Relation to the Plasma Membrane

• The movement of a substance across the selectively permeable plasma

membrane can be either “passive”—i.e., occurring without the input of cellular
energy —or “active”—i.e., its transport requires the cell to expend energy.
The cell employs a number of transport mechanisms that involve biological
membranes:
1. Passive osmosis and diffusion: transports gases (such as O2 and CO2) and
other small molecules and ions
2. Transmembrane protein channels and transporters: transports small organic
molecules such as sugars or amino acids
3. Endocytosis: transports large molecules (or even whole cells) by engulfing
them
4. Exocytosis: removes or secretes substances such as hormones or enzymes.
Transport Mechanisms in Cells
• Plasma membranes must allow certain substances to enter and leave a
cell, and prevent some harmful materials from entering and some essential
materials from leaving.
• In other words, plasma membranes are selectively permeable—they
allow some substances to pass through, but not others. If they were to lose
this selectivity, the cell would no longer be able to sustain itself, and it
would be destroyed.
• Some cells require larger amounts of specific substances. They must have
a way of obtaining these materials from extracellular fluids. This may
happen passively, as certain materials move back and forth, or the cell may
have special mechanisms that facilitate transport.
• Some materials are so important to a cell that it spends some of its energy,
hydrolyzing adenosine triphosphate (ATP), to obtain these materials. Red
blood cells use some of their energy doing just that. Most cells spend the
majority of their energy to maintain an imbalance of sodium and potassium
ions between the cell's interior and exterior, as well as on protein synthesis.
• The most direct forms of membrane transport are passive.
• Passive transport is a naturally occurring phenomenon and
does not require the cell to exert any of its energy to accomplish
the movement.
• In passive transport, substances move from an area of higher
concentration to an area of lower concentration. A physical
space in which there is a single substance concentration range
has a concentration gradient.
Selective Permeability
• Plasma membranes lack symmetry: the membrane's exterior is
not identical to its interior. There is a significant difference
between the arrangement of proteins and phospholipids and
between the two leaflets that form a membrane. On the
membrane's interior, some proteins serve to anchor the
membrane to cytoskeleton's fibers. There are peripheral
proteins on the membrane's exterior that bind extracellular
matrix elements.
molecular view of the cell membrane. Intrinsic proteins penetrate and bind tightly to the lipid bilayer,
which is made up largely of phospholipids and cholesterol and which typically is between 4 and 10
nanometers (nm; 1 nm = 10−9 meter) in thickness. Extrinsic proteins are loosely bound to the hydrophilic
(polar) surfaces, which face the watery medium both inside and outside the cell. Some intrinsic proteins
present sugar side chains on the cell's outer surface. 2007 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.meter
Selective Permeability
• Carbohydrates, attached to lipids or proteins, are also on the plasma
membrane's exterior surface. These carbohydrate complexes help the cell
bind required substances in the extracellular fluid. This adds considerably
to plasma membrane's selective nature.
Key Takes of the Permeability of
the Lipid Bilayer:
• Hydrophobic (nonpolar) molecules,
such as hydrocarbons, can dissolve
in the lipid bilayer and pass through
the membrane rapidly.
• Hydrophilic (Polar) molecules, such
as sugars, do not cross the
membrane easily.

Substances highly impermeable to cross membrane like

large uncharged polar molecules (glucose and fructose),
charged molecules and finally ALL IONS. But, Transport
proteins are used to transport ions across membrane.
Transport Mechanisms
• The transport of molecules across cell membrane may vary in rates,
depending upon molecular size, structure and composition of membrane,
pressure gradient, and internal and external conditions.
• The mechanisms fall into these five categories:
• Diffusion
• Osmosis
• Facilitated Transport
• Active Transport
• Bulk Transport.
 Diffusion is passive movement of
molecules from a region of high
concentration to a region of low
concentration. (Concentration
gradient is the difference in
concentration between the two
regions). Small, uncharged
molecules like O2, CO2 and H2O
can move easily through the
membrane. This works well over
short distances. Once molecules
Diffusion through a permeable membrane moves a enter the cell, the rate of diffusion
substance from a high concentration area (extracellular slows. It limits cell size.
fluid, in this case) down its concentration gradient (into
the cytoplasm).
Osmosis is diffusion of the solvent across a semi-
permeable membrane separating two solutions (Diffusion
of water). Water molecules move from a region of high
concentration to a region of low concentration. Direction
depends on the relative concentration of water molecules
on either side of the cell membrane. External and internal
conditions arise from a variety of concentrations of
solutes and solvent in and out of the cell. Such conditions
may be the following:
• Isotonic: Water inside the cell equals the water outside
the cell and equal amounts of water move in and out of
the cell.
• Hypotonic: Water outside the cell is greater than that
inside the cell, water moves into the cell, may cause cell
to burst (lysis)
Movement of water molecules
• Hypertonic: Water inside the cell is greater than from high concentration to low
outside. Water moves out of the cell, may cause the cell concentration, through a semi-
permeable membrane
to shrink (plasmolysis)
Facilitated Transport (Also Known as Facilitated Diffusion or Passive-
Mediated Transport) assists with the movement of large molecules like
glucose into or out of the cell by means of carrier proteins, which transports
noncharged molecules with a specific shape or channel proteins, which
serve as tunnel shape that transports small charged molecules. This usually
happens when molecules move from high to low regions of concentration
and it does not require water molecules for other molecules to transfer.

Facilitated diffusion in cell membrane, showing ion channels and carrier proteins.
Active Transport is the process
of moving substances against
their concentration gradients.
Thus, it requires energy.
Examples:
• Kidney cells pump glucose
and amino acids out of the
urine and back into the blood.
• Intestinal cells pump in
nutrients from the gut.
• Root cells pump in nutrients
from the soil.
Active transport: Requires the use of chemical energy to
• Gill cells in fish pump out move substances across a membrane, against a
sodium ions. concentration gradient. Active transport proteins may be
uniports, symports, or antiports.
 A sodium-potassium pump is
an active transport pump
where 3 sodium ions inside
the cell and 2 potassium ions
outside the cell bind to. This
allows the release of energy
from ATP and causes the
protein complex to change
shape. The change in shape
allow the Na+ and K+ ions to
In Primary active transport, energy from the hydrolysis of be transported in and out of
ATP is used to move ions into or out of cells against their
concentration gradients. The sodium-potassium pump is an
the cell.
important example
Secondary active transport couples the passive movement of one substance with its concentration
gradient to the movement of another substance against its concentration gradient. Energy from ATP is
used indirectly to establish the concentration gradient that results in the movement of the first substance
Bulk Transport Mechanisms are
needed by cells when large particles
are moved across the cell
membrane. There are different
modes of bulk transport such as
endocytosis and exocytosis.
• Endocytosis happens when the
cell membrane folds inward, traps
and encloses a small amount of
matter from the extracellular fluid.
• Exocytosis is the reverse of
endocytosis, in which, a vesicle from
inside the cell moves to the cell
membrane. The vesicle fuses to the
membrane and the contents are
secreted.
 Endocytosis refers to the Exocytosis refers to the
transportation of macromolecules, transportation of
large particles, and polar substances molecules or particles
Definition
into the cell from the cell to the
from the external outside of the cell
environment
Involved with up taking Involved in removing waste from the
Process
nutrients into the cell cell
Occurs by both phagocytosis and Occurs by constitutive and regulated
Type
pinocytosis secretory pathway
Internal vesicles like phagosomes
Vesicle Secretory vesicles are formed
are formed
Cell Wall Formation Not involved Involved
Engulfing bacteria by phagocytes is Releasing of hormones out of the
Example
an example cell is an example
Endocytosis can be further subdivided into the following
categories:
• Pinocytosis: The intake of a small droplet of extracellular
fluid. This occurs in nearly all cell types.
• Phagocytosis: The intake of a large droplet of extracellular
fluid. This occurs in specialized cells.
• Receptor-assisted endocytosis: The intake of specific
molecules that attach to special proteins in the cell
membrane. These proteins are uniquely shaped to fit the
shape of a specific molecule.
Secondary active transport couples the passive movement of one
substance with its concentration gradient to the movement of another
substance against its concentration gradient. Energy from ATP is used
indirectly to establish the concentration gradient that results in the
movement of the first substance.