LESSON HANDOUT IN GENERAL BIOLOGY 1:

Cell Transport
Have you been through airport security lately? If you have, you’ve probably noticed that it’s carefully
designed to let some things in (such as passengers with tickets) and to keep others out (such as weapons, explosives,
and bottled water). Flight attendants, captains, and airport personnel travel through quickly via a special channel,
while regular passengers pass through more slowly, sometimes with a long wait in line.
In many ways, airport security is a lot like the plasma membrane of a cell. Cell membranes are selectively
permeable, regulating which substances can pass through, as well as how much of each substance can enter or exit at a
given time. Selective permeability is essential to cells’ ability to obtain nutrients, eliminate wastes, and maintain a
stable interior environment different than that of the surroundings (maintain homeostasis).
The currently accepted model for the structure of the plasma membrane, called the fluid mosaic model, was
first proposed in 1972. This model has evolved over time, but it still provides a good basic description of the structure
and behavior of membranes in many cells. According to the fluid mosaic model, the plasma membrane is a mosaic of
components—primarily, phospholipids, cholesterol, and proteins—that move freely and fluidly in the plane of the
membrane. In other words, a diagram of the membrane (like the one below) is just a snapshot of a dynamic process in
which phospholipids and proteins are continually sliding past one another.
Interestingly enough, this fluidity means that if you insert a very fine needle into a cell, the membrane will
simply part to flow around the needle; once the needle is removed, the membrane will flow back together seamlessly.

The principal components of the plasma membrane are lipids (phospholipids and cholesterol), proteins, and
carbohydrate groups that are attached to some of the lipids and proteins.
Phospholipids
Phospholipids, arranged in a bilayer, make up the basic fabric of the plasma
membrane. They are well-suited for this role because they are amphipathic,
meaning that they have both hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions.
The hydrophilic, or “water-loving,” portion of a phospholipid is its
head, which contains a negatively charged phosphate group as well as an
additional small group (of varying identity, “R” in the diagram at left), which
may also or be charged or polar. The hydrophilic heads of phospholipids in a
membrane bilayer face outward, contacting the aqueous (watery) fluid both
inside and outside the cell. Since water is a polar molecule, it readily forms
electrostatic (charge-based) interactions with the phospholipid heads.
The hydrophobic, or “water-fearing,” part of a phospholipid consists
of its long, nonpolar fatty acid tails. The fatty acid tails can easily interact
with other nonpolar molecules, but they interact poorly with water. Because
of this, it’s more energetically favorable for the phospholipids to tuck their
fatty acid tails away in the interior of the membrane, where they are shielded
from the surrounding water. The phospholipid bilayer formed by these interactions makes a good barrier between the
interior and exterior of the cell, because water and other polar or charged substances cannot easily cross the
hydrophobic core of the membrane.
(Saturated fatty acids have no double bonds (are saturated with hydrogens), so they are relatively straight.
Unsaturated fatty acids, on the other hand, contain one or more double bonds, often resulting in a bend or kink.)

Proteins
Proteins are the second major component of plasma membranes. There are two main categories of membrane proteins:
integral and peripheral.
Integral membrane proteins are, as their name
suggests, integrated into the membrane: they have at
least one hydrophobic region that anchors them to
the hydrophobic core of the phospholipid bilayer.
Some stick only partway into the membrane, while
others stretch from one side of the membrane to the
other and are exposed on either side. Proteins that
extend all the way across the membrane are called
transmembrane proteins.

Peripheral membrane proteins are found

on the outside and inside surfaces of membranes,
attached either to integral proteins or to
phospholipids. Unlike integral membrane proteins,
peripheral membrane proteins do not stick into the
hydrophobic core of the membrane, and they tend to be more loosely attached.

Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are the third major component of plasma membranes. In general, they are found on the outside
surface of cells and are bound either to proteins (forming glycoproteins) or to lipids (forming glycolipids). These
carbohydrate chains may consist of 2-60 monosaccharide units and can be either straight or branched.

There are two basic ways that substances can cross the plasma membrane: passive transport, which requires no
energy; and active transport, which requires energy. The diagram below shows the 2 main type of cell transport and its
types.

PASSIVE TRANSPORT
  The simplest forms of transport across a membrane are passive. Passive transport does not require the cell to
expend any energy and involves a substance diffusing down its concentration gradient across a membrane.
 A concentration gradient is a just a region of space over which the concentration of a substance changes, and
substances will naturally move down their gradients, from an area of higher to an area of lower
concentration.
 There are 2 types of passive transport: Simple diffusion/Diffusion and Facilitated diffusion.
Simple Diffusion
 Simple diffusion is pretty much exactly what it sounds like – molecules move down their gradients through
the membrane. In the process of diffusion, a substance tends to move from an area of high concentration to an
area of low concentration until its concentration becomes equal throughout a space.
 Molecules that practice simple diffusion must be small and nonpolar in order to pass through the membrane.
 For example, think about someone opening a bottle of ammonia in a room filled with people. The ammonia
gas is at its highest concentration in the bottle; its lowest concentration is at the edges of the room. The
ammonia vapor will diffuse, or spread away, from the bottle, and gradually, more and more people will smell
the ammonia as it spreads.
 The molecule most likely to be involved in simple diffusion is water - it can easily pass-through cell
membranes. When water undergoes simple diffusion, it is known as osmosis.

Osmosis
 The net movement of water across a semipermeable membrane from an area of lower solute concentration to
an area of higher solute concentration.
 Osmosis is a special case of diffusion. Although water is polar, it can still pass through the cell membrane
because of proteins called aquaporins.
 Aquaporins selectively conduct water molecules in and out of the cell, while preventing the passage of ions
and other solutes.
 Water, like other substances, moves from an area of
high concentration to one of low concentration. An
obvious question is what makes water move at all?
Imagine a beaker with a semipermeable membrane
separating the two sides or halves (Figure 6). On both
sides of the membrane the water level is the same, but
there are different concentrations of a dissolved
substance, or solute, that cannot cross the membrane
(otherwise the concentrations on each side would be
balanced by the solute crossing the membrane). If the
volume of the solution on both sides of the membrane is
the same, but the concentrations of solute are different,
then there are different amounts of water, the solvent, on
either side of the membrane.

Tonicity
Tonicity describes how an extracellular solution can change the volume of a cell by affecting osmosis. A solution’s
tonicity often directly correlates with the osmolarity of the solution. Osmolarity describes the total solute
concentration of the solution.

1) Hypertonic Solution. A solution that has a higher solute

concentration than another solution. Water particles
will move out of the cell, causing crenation or
shrinking of the cell.

2)
Isotonic Solution. A solution that has the same
solute concentration as another solution. There
 is no net movement of water particles, and the overall concentration on both sides of the cell
membrane remains constant.

3) Hypotonic Solution. A solution that has a lower solute

concentration than another solution. Water particles will
move into the cell, causing the cell to expand and eventually
lyse (destruction or bursting of the cell).

Facilitated Diffusion
 Some molecules, such as carbon dioxide and oxygen, can diffuse across the plasma membrane directly, but
others need help to cross its hydrophobic core. In facilitated diffusion, molecules diffuse across the plasma
membrane with assistance from membrane proteins, such as channels and carriers.

Channel Proteins
- Channel proteins span the membrane and make
hydrophilic tunnels across it, allowing their target
molecules to pass through by diffusion.
- Channels are very selective and will accept only one type of
molecule (or a few closely related molecules) for
transport.
- Passage through a channel protein allows polar and
charged compounds to avoid the hydrophobic core of the
plasma membrane, which would otherwise slow or block
their entry into the cell.

Carrier Proteins
- Carrier proteins can change their shape to move a target
molecule from one side of the membrane to the other.
- Like channel proteins, carrier proteins are typically
selective for one or a few substances. Often, they will change shape in response to binding of their target
molecule, with the shape change moving the molecule to the opposite side of the membrane.
- The carrier proteins involved in facilitated diffusion simply provide hydrophilic molecules with a way to
move down an existing concentration gradient (rather than acting as pumps).

ACTIVE TRANSPORT
 In active transport, unlike passive transport, the cell expends energy (for example, in the form of ATP) to
move a substance against its concentration gradient.
  We have already discussed simple concentration gradients, in which a substance is found in different
concentrations over a region of space or on opposite sides of a membrane. However, because atoms and
molecules can form ions and carry positive or negative electrical charges, there may also be an electrical
gradient, or difference in charge, across a plasma membrane.
 There are 2 main types of active transport: Pump Transport (Primary & Secondary) and Vesicle or Bulk
Transport (Endocytosis and Exocytosis)

(Pump Transport)
Primary active transport
 One of the most important pumps in animal cells is the sodium-potassium pump, which moves Na+ out of the
cell, and K+ into them. Because the transport process uses ATP as an energy source, it is considered an
example of primary active transport.

The sodium-potassium pump cycle

The sodium-potassium pump transports sodium out of and potassium into the cell in a repeating cycle of
conformational (shape) changes. In each cycle, three sodium ions exit the cell, while two potassium ions enter. This
process takes place in the following steps:
1) To begin, the pump is open to the inside of the cell. In this form, the pump really likes to bind (has a high
affinity for) sodium ions, and will take up three of them.
2) When the sodium ions bind, they trigger the pump to hydrolyze (break down) ATP. One phosphate group
from ATP is attached to the pump, which is then said to be phosphorylated. ADP is released as a by-product.
3) Phosphorylation makes the pump change shape, re-orienting itself so it opens towards the extracellular space.
In this conformation, the pump no longer likes to bind to sodium ions (has a low affinity for them), so the
three sodium ions are released outside the cell.
4) In its outward-facing form, the pump switches allegiances and now really likes to bind to (has a high affinity
for) potassium ions. It will bind two of them, and this triggers removal of the phosphate group attached to the
pump in step 2.
5) With the phosphate group gone, the pump will change back to its original form, opening towards the interior
of the cell.
6) In its inward-facing shape, the pump loses its interest in (has a low affinity for) potassium ions, so the two
potassium ions will be released into the cytoplasm. The pump is now back to where it was in step 1, and the
cycle can begin again.

Secondary Active Transport

 The electrochemical gradients set up by primary active transport store energy, which can be released as the
ions move back down their gradients. Secondary active transport uses the energy stored in these gradients to
move other substances against their own gradients.
 In secondary active transport, the movement of the sodium ions down their gradient is coupled to the uphill
transport of other substances by a shared carrier protein (a cotransporter). For instance, in the figure below, a
carrier protein lets sodium ions move down their gradient, but simultaneously brings a glucose molecule up its
gradient and into the cell. The carrier protein uses the energy of the sodium gradient to drive the transport of
glucose molecules.
  In secondary active transport, the two molecules being
transported may move either in the same direction (i.e., both
into the cell), or in opposite directions (i.e., one into and one
out of the cell). When they move in the same direction, the
protein that transports them is called a symporter, while if
they move in opposite directions, the protein is called an
antiporter.

(Vesicle/Bulk Transport)
Endocytosis
 Endocytosis (endo = internal, cytosis = transport mechanism) is a general term for the various types of active
transport that move particles into a cell by enclosing them in a vesicle made out of plasma membrane.
 There are variations of endocytosis, but all follow the same basic process. First, the plasma membrane of the
cell invaginates (folds inward), forming a pocket around the target particle or particles. The pocket then
pinches off with the help of specialized proteins, leaving the particle trapped in a newly created vesicle or
vacuole inside the cell.
 Endocytosis can be further subdivided into the following categories: phagocytosis, pinocytosis, and receptor-
mediated endocytosis.

a. Phagocytosis
o Phagocytosis (the condition of “cell eating”) is the process by which large particles, such as cells or
relatively large particles, are taken in by a cell.
o For example, when microorganisms invade the human body, a type of white blood cell called a
neutrophil will remove the invaders through this process, surrounding and engulfing the
microorganism, which is then destroyed by the neutrophil.
b. Pinocytosis
o A variation of endocytosis is called pinocytosis. This literally means “cell drinking” and was named at
a time when the assumption was that the cell was purposefully taking in extracellular fluid.
o This is a process that takes in molecules, including water, which the cell needs from the extracellular
fluid. Pinocytosis results in a much smaller vesicle than does phagocytosis, and the vesicle does not
need to merge with a lysosome.
c. Receptor-mediated endocytosis
o Receptor-mediated endocytosis is a form of endocytosis in which receptor proteins on the cell surface
are used to capture a specific target molecule.
o The receptors, which are transmembrane proteins, cluster in regions of the plasma membrane known
as coated pits. This name comes from a layer of proteins, called coat proteins, that are found on the
cytoplasmic side of the pit. Clathrin, shown in the diagram below, is the best-studied coat protein.
o When the receptors bind to their specific target molecule, endocytosis is triggered, and the receptors
and their attached molecules are taken into the cell in a vesicle. The coat proteins participate in this
process by giving the vesicle its rounded shape and helping it bud off from the membrane.
 o Receptor-mediated endocytosis allows cells to take up large amounts of molecules that are relatively
rare (present in low concentrations) in the extracellular fluid.

Exocytosis
 Cells must take in certain molecules, such as nutrients, but they also
need to release other molecules, such as signaling proteins and
waste products, to the outside environment.
 Exocytosis (exo = external, cytosis = transport mechanism) is a
form of bulk transport in which materials are transported from the
inside to the outside of the cell in membrane-bound vesicles that
fuse with the plasma membrane.
 Some of these vesicles come from the Golgi apparatus and contain
proteins made specifically by the cell for release outside, such as
signaling molecules. Other vesicles contain wastes that the cell
needs to dispose of, such as the leftovers that remain after a
phagocytosed particle has been digested.

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Task:
 In a 1 whole sheet of paper, list down the important points discussed in the handout.
 Submit your papers on or before our class schedule ends.
 Prepare for a long quiz on Thursday (Marc 21, 2024)
 The quiz will be 30-40 items mixed test, Coverage are the following topics:
a. Cell Cycle
b. Mitosis
c. Meiosis
d. Cell Transport