23 - Fluidity and Membrane Proteins Flashcards
importance of membrane fluidity
- lipids need to diffuse laterally
- proteins not involved in membrane anchoring also diffuse
- proteins need to be able to move and transmit signals - and molecules need to be able to move/diffuse across membranes
- vesicles need to be able to bud off and fuse with the membrane
- otherwise all these processes would be very slow
measuring rate of lateral diffusion experiment
- use fluorophores
- membrane with fluorophores
- intense light (laser beam) bleaches fluorophores
- fluorophore membranes recover, then start to fluoresce
- rate of diffusion of fluorophores back to into the membrane area can be recorded
How fluid is the membrane - how often does it move
- constant movement of membranes within bilayer
- rotation and flexion occur at a high rate:
- lateral diffusion (within membrane) ~ 2 micrometres per second - very quick movement within the membrane
- transverse (flip one side to the other) - every three days
Temp effect on membrane fluidity
increase temp - melting transition - crystal - gel - fluid - so membrane more permeable as temp increases
- lipid molecules move faster
- membrane becomes more permeable
decrease temp:
- fluidity decreased as temp increases
- lipid molecules move more slowly: gel-like
- membrane becomes less permeable
membrane fluidity - lipid composition
- effects of different lipids on fluidity
- mixture of lipids in membrane
Increases fluidity:
- unsaturated lipids give kinks
- short chains allow fewer interactions between lipids
- higher temp (not relevant to humans, cholesterol)
decrease fluidity:
- saturated chains
- longer chains
- lower temp (not relevant to humans, cholesterol)
membrane adaptions of cold-blooded (poikilotherms)
- organisms regulate their lipid composition in their membranes depending on their habitat and surroundings
Low temp:
- shorter unsaturated fatty acids
- keep membrane more fluid to compensate for lower temps
High Temp:
- longer chain, more staurated fatty acids to compensate
How plants use changes in membrane fluidity to detect temperature changes
fluidity increases - temp increasing
opp also true
- allows plant to prepare for heat stress
What regulates membrane fluidity in mammals
cholesterol
How cholesterol works in membranes - simple
warmer temps:
- cholesterol restrains phospholipid movements at high temps
- so membrane is less fluid
cooler temps:
- cholesterol prevents close packing of lipids
- so that membrane is more fluid at lower temps
what organisms cholesterol found in
only animals
- not in plants and bacteria
cholesterol structure
- contains a polar head group and a nonpolar hydrocarbon tail
- hydrocarbon tail is ‘flexible’ - makes area more fluid
- steroid rings are ‘rigid’ - decrease fluidity in parts of membrane
Cholesterol conformaion in the membrane
- why is like this
- increases fluidity in middle of the membrane (flexible tail)
- decreases fluidity at edge of the membrane (steroid ring)
effect of ethanol on membranes
- ethanol increases membrane fluidity - one of the ways it is toxic - fatty acid molecules pack against each other - more fluid
- chronic alcoholics compensate by increasing cholesterol contents of membrane
- so when they sober up, membranes are less fluid (when not containing ethanol)
- anaesthetics (analgesiacs) increase membrane fluidity
lipid bilayer - asymmertric
- the two layers have different lipid composition
- transverse diffusion (flip-flop) once every 3 days (rare)
- proteins known as phospholipid translocators (flippases) catalyse the flip-flop event to maintain phospholipids in the correct monolayer
ER and Membrane synthesis
ER is involved in membrane synthesis and modififcation
- determines the asymmetric distribution of lipids, proteins and carbohydrates
- proteins destined for membranes are synthesised on one membrane of the ER (not in the ER)
- membrane proteins have a clear direction (cannot flip-flop/transverse travel)
- when membrane proteins are present on ER, carbs restricted to cell’s exterior
Different types of membrane proteins
- integral membrane proteins (a & B) - traverse across the membrane (at least once)
- Peripheral membrane proteins associate with a membrane face
- some proteins bind to the surface of integral proteins
- anchors - some covalently anchored to the membrane
Intergral membrane proteins - membrane topology
topology maintained by hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions:
- hydrophobic helices are hydrophobic
- multi-spanning helices are hydrophobic where they interact with the membrane (not in contact with exterior)
- hydrophobic has to interact with hydrophobic
- other interactions occur between the helices
- B-barrel pore proteins - hydrophobic where they interact with membrane hydrophilic environment in middle of pore
- +vely charged amino acids interact with -vely charged lipid head groups in phospholipid bilayer
