What is the function of biological membranes?

• Membranes are selectively permeable barriers that separate the inside of a cell from the
outside (intracellular and extracellular)

• Membranes also surround organelles and separate the inside of an organelle (the lumen)
from the outside (the cytosol)
Phospholipid bilayer
Extracellular water
environment

Phospholipid
bilayer

Intracellular water
environment

http://www.itqb.unl.pt/labs/molecular-simulation/research/peptide-and-protein-interactions-with-biological
 The plasma membrane
• The plasma membrane surrounds the cell controls what gets into and out of the cell.

• It is selectively permeable: only some substances can pass (why is this a good thing?)
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Components of plasma
membrane:

• Phospholipids

• Proteins

True of all biomembranes!

 Membranes are fluid
• Proteins and lipids move!
• Phospholipids are not fixed in position, they are always moving
o They can move from side to side (lateral diffusion)
o They cannot move from inside to outside (flip-flop)

• Proteins in the membrane also move freely by lateral diffusion

 The fluid mosaic model
In 1972 Singer and Nicholson described the fluid mosaic model for membranes:
• Membranes are fluid and are a mosaic of lipids, proteins and carbohydrates

Fluid:
Membrane components are capable of lateral diffusion

Mosaic:
Membranes are composed of different lipids and proteins (membrane proteins)
 Experiment showing membranes are fluid

The experiment:
What results would
you expect if :

(a) The membrane is

static

(b) The membrane is

dynamic (fluid)
 Two main types of membrane proteins
(1) Peripheral: (2) Integral

• Is not embedded in membrane • Transmembrane proteins (across the membrane)

• Easy to remove • Difficult to remove
• Lacks hydrophobic sequences • Hydrophobic regions interact with interior of
membrane
 Question Time!

• Is this a peripheral or integral membrane protein?

• Which part of this membrane protein is

hydrophobic?

• Which part of this membrane protein is hydrophilic?

 Integral membrane proteins
• Penetrate the hydrophobic interior of the
plasma membrane

• May extend all the way through the

membrane or only partway into the
membrane interior

• The portion of an integral membrane protein

that is in contact with the hydrophobic part
of the membrane must also be hydrophobic

• The portion of an integral membrane protein

that is in contact with the aqueous
environment or the aqueous interior of the
cell must be hydrophilic

• Some transmembrane proteins have a

hydrophilic channel going through them
– This channel allows the transport of polar
substances across the membrane
 Membrane proteins have many different functions

(a) Transport (d) Cell-Cell recognition

Ex: aquaporin allows Ex: A, B, O blood type
the passage of water

(b) Enzymatic reactions (e) Intercellular joining

Ex: ATP synthase Ex: desmosomes,
produces ATP tight junctions
(ADP + Pi + energy → ATP + H2O)

(c) Signal transduction (f) Stabilization of

Ex: Insulin receptor membranes
(when insulin binds to
receptor, the cell will
Ex: integrin binds the
take up glucose from the ECM and the
blood) cytoskeleton
 Other features of membranes
• Glycoproteins: membrane proteins with carbohydrate groups attached to them
• Glycolipids: membrane lipids with carbohydrates attached to them
• Cholesterol: this sterol is an important component of the phospholipid bilayer
• Asymmetry: the inner layer is not the same as the outer layer (“sideness”)
 Membrane fluidity
• Heat: increases fluidity
• Shorter and unsaturated phospholipids:
increase fluidity landviceversa
• Cholesterol:
– Keeps membranes from becoming too fluid with
temp. increases
– Keeps membranes from becoming too rigid when
temps decrease
 Membranes have “sideness”

• Membranes are asymmetrical (they have “sideness”: there is an inside and an outside)
• When a vesicle fuses with the PM the inside of the vesicle will be on the outside of the cell
Biological membranes are selectively permeable

Water is actually helped across the

membrane by aquaporin proteins
 Type of molecule Mode of transport

• Hydrophobic molecules (non-polar/uncharged)

Ex: lipids (hydrocarbons), O2, CO2
• Simple diffusion (passive)
• Small, polar molecules
Ex: H2O, ethanol (CH2OH)

• Large, polar molecules

Ex: carbohydrates (glucose), amino acids • Facilitated diffusion (passive)
• Active transport (active)
• Charged molecules (ions)
Ex: K+, Na+, Cl-, Ca2+

• Large macromolecules or particles

Ex: proteins, bacteria, polysaccharides
• Bulk transport (active)
• Large amounts of smaller molecules
Ex: neurotransmitters

Passive: no energy needed

Active: energy needed
 Membrane transport
• 3 types
1. Diffusion
2. Facilitated diffusion
3. Active transport
 Diffusion
• Passive transport – No E required
• substances move down their concentration gradient
(from high concentration to low concentration)
 Facilitated diffusion
• Does NOT require E.
• Does require a channel or
carrier
– Integral proteins which provide a
corridor for the passage of solute
• Solute moves down its
concentration gradient
• Used to transport polar or ionic
compounds, such as glucose
• Water is transported by
aquaporin molecule
 Active transport

• Solutes move from low → HIGH concentration

(UP the concentration gradient)

• An integral membrane protein is required

– A carrier protein that undergoes a
conformational change
change inshape
ATP + H2O → ADP + Pi + energy
• ENERGY is needed!!! (active transport)

• Large polar and charged/ ionic molecules

• Ex: Na+ / K+ ATPase pump

 Na+ / K+ ATPase pump
• Na+ is pumped out of the cell and K+ is pumped into the cell, both moving UP
their concentration gradient
ATP is hydrolyzed, and the Pi is Pump changes shape and releases
Cytoplasmic Na+ binds to pump transferred to the pump Na+ outside the cell

Pump can now bind Na+ again! Pump changes shape and releases Extracellular K+ binds to the pump
K+ inside the cell and Pi is removed from the pump
• What type of transport is depicted in each of these pictures?
Explain your answer.

• What type of molecules can be transported in each case?

Simplediffusion Facilitateddiffusion
 Osmosis: passive diffusion of water
(simple or facilitated)

• Osmosis is the diffusion of water across a

semi-permeable membrane (only water can
pass!)

• Depends on the concentration of solutes

• Water will move to the area of higher
solute concentration

• Water is moving to an area of high solute

concentration (lower water concentration)\

• Osmosis continues until the two solutions

are isotonic (having the same solute
concentration)

Is energy required?
Is a channel or carrier protein required?
Osmosis
 Why does this matter?
• Water balance is important for cell survival.
• Excess water flow in or out of a cell could be
dangerous for the cell.
• Plant cells have a cell wall which prevents
bursting
– turgid condition is healthiest, cell wall provides
structural support
• Animal cells do not have a cell wall
– only the isotonic condition is safe for animal cells
 Terms used to compare solutions
1. Hypertonic solution: having a higher solute
concentration
2. Hypotonic solution: having a lower solute
concentration
3. Isotonic solution: having the same solute
concentration
 Terms used to compare solutions
1. Where will water flow (into or out of the
cell):
a. when a cell is placed in a hypertonic soln?
Out of thecell

a. when a cell is placed in a hypotonic soln?

Into thecell

a. when a cell is placed in an isotonic soln?

The strange way I remembered this as
a student
• Hypotonic = Hypo + tonic
• Hypo kind of sounds like Hippo.
• When cells are placed in a hypotonic solution
water will flow in, increasing the volume of
the cell (making it larger… like a hippo).
Muscle cells have a specialized ER called the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR). The SR contains a
high concentration of Ca2+ ions (higher than in the cytoplasm). When the muscle cell is
stimulated to contract, Ca2+ channels in the SR open and Ca2+ rushes into the cytoplasm.
After muscle contraction Ca2+ is returned back into the SR by a Ca2+ pump (the
concentration of Ca2+ in the SR is always higher than in the cytoplasm) . Which type of
membrane transport is being carried out by:

(a) The Ca2+ channels? Explain your answer.

Facilitateddiffusion Ionneedshelp

(a) The Ca2+ pumps? Explain your answer.

Actintransport
 Water balance

Animal cells: (no cell wall)

• Hypotonic: cells enlarge until they
burst (lyse)
• Hypertonic: cells shrivel
• Isotonic: cells are normal!

Plant cells:
• Hypotonic: cell walls prevent
lysis (turgid)
• Hypertonic: plasma membrane
pulls away from cell wall
(plasmolyzed, lethal)
• Isotonic: cells lose mechanical
support (flaccid)
• How does this paramecium use its contractile vacuoles for
osmoregulation? (paramecium live in freshwater environments)

Contractile vacuole

Contractile vacuole

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 Bulk transport
• Large molecules like proteins and polysaccharides, or large amounts of
molecules, are transported across the membrane through bulk transport. Bulk
transport requires energy!

Types of bulk transport:

• Endocytosis
• Molecules move into cell

• Exocytosis
• Molecules are secreted
out of the cell
 Endocytosis (endo=within)

• Molecules move into the cell

• Plasma membrane changes shape to

form a pocket around the molecules.
Pocket closes and pinches off as an
intracellular vesicle

(1) Phagocytosis: a particle is engulfed

by pseudopodia and digested after
fusion with the lysosome

(2) Pinocytosis: extracellular fluid

containing solutes is “gulped” by the
cell in tiny vesicles (cell-drinking)
 Exocytosis (exo=external)
• Molecules move out of the cell (secretion)
• Proteins are synthesized in the ER and packaged into transport vesicles
• ER → vesicle → Golgi → vesicle → plasma membrane
• Vesicle fuses with the plasma membrane (flips inside out) and releases its contents
outside the cell

Examples:
o Insulin secretion
o Release of neurotransmitters
at a synapse
o Antibody secretion by B-cells
o Secretion of ECM proteins
 Is an integral
Molecules that are membrane Is energy
Type of transport Examples
transported protein needed
needed?

Simple diffusion

Facilitated
diffusion

Osmosis

Active transport

Endocytosis

Exocytosis
 Osmosis is important for osmoregulation

A solution can Net movement of

be: Definition water IN or OUT of cell?

Hypotonic Solution has a LOWER [solute] than inside the cell ?

Isotonic Solution has the SAME [solute] than inside the cell ?

Solution has the HIGHER [solute] than inside the cell

Hypertonic ?

What happens if too the cell in all cases?