Transport across membranes (4) Flashcards
What is meant by ‘fluid’ in the fluid mosaic model of membranes?
phospholipid bilayer in which individual phospholipids can move causing membrane to have a flexible shape
What is meant by ‘mosaic’ in the fluid mosaic model of membranes?
extrinsic and intrinsic proteins of different sizes and shapes are embedded
What is the role of cholesterol in membranes?
steroid molecule in some plasma membranes which connects phospholipids and reduces fluidity to make bilayer more stable
What is the role of glycolipids in membranes?
cell signalling and cell recognition
What do extrinsic proteins contain?
binding sites/receptors
antigens (glycoproteins)
What are the 2 functions of extrinsic proteins in membranes?
- bind cells together
- involved in cell signalling
What do intrinsic proteins contain and what are these for?
- electron carriers (for respiration and photosynthesis)
- channel proteins (facilitated diffusion)
- carrier proteins (active transport/facilitated diffusion)
What are the 4 functions of a membrane?
- provide internal transport system
- selectively permeable to regulate passage of molecules into/out of organelles
- provide reaction surface
- isolate organelles from cytoplasm for specific metabolic reactions
What are the 3 functions of a cell-surface membrane?
- isolates cytoplasm from extracellular environment
- selectively permeable to regulate transport of substances
- involved in cell signalling/cell recognition
What are 3 factors affecting membrane permeability?
1) temperature
2) pH
3) use of solvent
How does temperature affect membrane permeability?
high temperature denatures membrane proteins and phospholipid molecules have more kinetic energy and move further apart
How does pH affect membrane permeability?
changes tertiary structure of membrane proteins
How does the use of a solvent affect membrane permeability?
may dissolve membrane
What are the 4 steps on how colorimetry can be used to investigate membrane permeability?
1) use plant tissue with soluble pigment in vacuole (tonoplast cell-surface membrane disrupted, increasing permeability so pigment diffuses into solution)
2) select colorimeter filter with complementary colour
3) use distilled water to set colorimeter to 0 and measure the absorbance/% transmission value of the solution
4) high absorbance/low transmission means there is more pigment in the solution
What is meant by osmosis?
water diffuses across semi-permeable membranes from an are of higher water potential to an area of lower water potential, until a dynamic equilibrium is established
What is water potential?
pressure created by water molecules
What are the units for water potential?
kPa
What is the water potential of pure water at 25°C and 100kPa?
0
What 3 conditions are required for water potential to = 0
pure water
25°C
100kPa
What happens to water potential if there is more solute?
water potential becomes more negative