Organelles Flashcards
(221 cards)
What are cell membranes primarily composed of? How is it arranged?
(Only lipid components are listed)
Phospholipids (most abundant)
Glycolipids (only on outside)
Cholesterol
The phospholipids are arranged so the extracellular and intracellular leaflets are hydrophilic, and the space in between the leaflets is hydrophobic.
What is a glycolipid? Does it have a specific orientation?
A glycolipid is a protein with a carbohydrate chain located ONLY on the extracellular leaflet.
What is special about glycolipids?
The carbohydrate chains coming off the glycolipid determine what the cell is able to interact with.
The carbohydrate chains are collectively called the glycocalyx.
What is the difference between an integral protein and a peripheral protein?
Integral: transmembrane protein (it spans the entire membrane)
Peripheral: interacts/involved with membrane but doesn’t really enter/cross it. (?typically associated with integral proteins?)
What purpose does cholesterol serve in the membrane?
It increases rigidity of the membrane, preventing components from moving around (especially in membranes with high unsaturations or in high heat conditions)
(For block 3, cholesterol does not affect fluidity. For everything else, it does.)
How would you sum up the differences between prokaryotic cells and eukaryotic cells?
Prokaryotic cells are much smaller than eukaryotic cells, and carry no organelles/cytoskeleton.
Prokaryotic DNA is circular and singular, as opposed to the multiple linear DNA molecules of eukaryotes.
Differentiate between gram negative and gram positive cells.
Gram negative: stain pink, contains TWO membranes and a THIN cellular wall in between them
Gram positive: stain purple, contains ONE membrane and a THICK cellular wall on top of it.
What are the functions of the membrane?
- Transporter proteins regulate movement of molecules across membrane
- Protect cell and provide structure
- compartmentalize biological activity
- contribute to cellular signalling (via membrane proteins)
- provide structure for biochemical activity (like ATP production)
What are the protein components of the cell membrane?
- Channel/Pump proteins
- Transporters
- Receptors
- Adhesion molecules
- Gap junctions
(try and understand what each does)
What special quality do membrane lipids have that contribute to how they comprise the membrane?
They’re amphipathic, meaning they have hydrophobic and -philic components.
Describe the general structure of a phospholipid.
One hydrophilic (polar) head
Two hydrophobic (nonpolar) hydrocarbon, fatty acyl tails
What determines membrane properties and how?
Phospholipid tail length and degree of saturation.
An unsaturated tail will form a ‘kink’ due to cis-double bonding. More kinks = more fluid membrane.
What happens to the membrane during apoptosis? What facilitates this?
Phosphatidylserine will ‘flip,’ inducing phagocytosis by macrophages.
Facilitated by ‘flippase’ enzymes.
What determines how lipids will assemble into aggregates?
Their hydrophobic interactions with water.
What lipid types become what aggregates?
Fatty acids - Micelles
Phospholipids - Bilayer, Liposomes
Note: shape of individual lipids determines what aggregates they will form.
What holds the membrane leaflets (extra- and intracellular) together? What property do membranes have because of this?
Van der Waals interactions = weak bonds between hydrophobic tails.
This means that membranes are fluid and self-healing!
Why is membrane fluidity important?
It is essential for exocytosis, endocytosis, and membrane trafficking/biogenesis
How can the function of membrane lipids/proteins be disrupted?
Interference with anchoring(?)
What can increase the fluidity of a membrane?
- unsaturated fatty acid tail (cis-double bond kinks)
- short chain
- increase in temperature
What is an acanthocyte? What is another name for it?
A red blood cell with too much cholesterol, which causes its shape to deform. It will have 5-10 irregular, blunt, finger-like projections, and is less susceptible for deformation.
aka spur cell
What is dangerous for a patient with a high reticulocyte count? What has caused their condition?
(See slide 28 for details)
If the patient eats anything sharp, they’re in danger. Clotting time has been increased (PT) and distorted cholesterol balance in plasma and RBC membrane will cause the bleeding to clot very slowly.
What conditions are acanthoctyes associated with?
Spur cell anemia, chronic liver disease
What are lipid rafts?
islands of cholesterol and glycosphingolipids (long saturated tails) that are less fluid and more thick than the surrounding leaflet. They stick out a little due to the longer tails of the glycosphingolipids
What are contained by lipid rafts?
integral and peripheral membrane proteins: clustering allows them to function together
GPI anchors: glycolipid that anchors the proteins to the plasma membrane