Membrane Structure and

Function
 Plasma Membrane
 Is the boundary that separates the
living cell from its nonliving
surroundings
 Selectively Permeable (chooses
what may cross the membrane)
 Fluid mosaic of lipids and proteins
 Lipid bilayer
 Contains embedded proteins
 Phospholipids
 Are the most abundant lipid in the plasma
membrane
 Are amphipathic, containing both hydrophilic
(head) and hydrophobic regions (tails)
 Head composed of phosphate group
attached to one carbon of glycerol is
hydrophilic
 Two fatty acid tails are hydrophobic
 Phospholipid
Bilayer

WATER
Hydrophilic
head
Hydrophobic
tail

WATER
 Singer and Nicolson
In 1972, Singer and Nicolson, proposed
that membrane proteins are dispersed
and individually inserted into the
phospholipid bilayer of the plasma
membrane Hydrophilic region
of protein

Phospholipid
bilayer

Hydrophobic region of protein

 Fluid Mosaic Model
 A membrane is a fluid structure with a
“mosaic” of various proteins embedded
in it when viewed from the top
 Phospholipids can move laterally a
small amount and can “flex” their tails
 Membrane proteins also move side to
side or laterally making the membrane
fluid
 The Fluidity of
Membranes
Phospholipids in the plasma membrane
can move within the bilayer two ways

Lateral movement
Flip-flop
(~107 times per second) (~ once per month)
 The Fluidity of
Membranes
The type of hydrocarbon tails in
phospholipids affects the fluidity of the
plasma membrane
Fluid Viscous

Unsaturated hydrocarbon Saturated hydro-

tails with kinks Carbon tails
 The Fluidity of
Membranes
The steroid cholesterol has different
effects on membrane fluidity at different
temperatures

Cholesterol
 Membrane Proteins
and Their Functions
A membrane is a collage of different
proteins embedded in the fluid matrix of
the lipid bilayer
Fibers of
extracellular
matrix (ECM)
 Six Major Functions of Membrane Proteins

(a) Transport. (left) A protein that spans the membrane

may provide a hydrophilic channel across the
membrane that is selective for a particular solute.
(right) Other transport proteins shuttle a substance
from one side to the other by changing shape. Some
of these proteins hydrolyze ATP as an energy source ATP
to actively pump substances across the membrane.
Enzymes
(b) Enzymatic activity. A protein built into the membrane
may be an enzyme with its active site exposed to
substances in the adjacent solution. In some cases,
several enzymes in a membrane are organized as
a team that carries out sequential steps of a
metabolic pathway.

(c) Signal
Signal transduction. A membrane protein may have
a binding site with a specific shape that fits the shape
of a chemical messenger, such as a hormone. The
external messenger (signal) may cause a
conformational change in the protein (receptor) that
relays the message to the inside of the cell.
Receptor
 Six Major Functions of
Membrane Proteins
(d) Cell-cell recognition. Some glyco-proteins serve as
identification tags that are specifically recognized
by other cells.

Glyco-
protein

(e) Intercellular joining. Membrane proteins of adjacent cells

may hook together in various kinds of junctions, such as
gap junctions or tight junctions

Attachment to the cytoskeleton and extracellular matrix

(f)
(ECM). Microfilaments or other elements of the
cytoskeleton may be bonded to membrane proteins,
a function that helps maintain cell shape and stabilizes
the location of certain membrane proteins. Proteins that
adhere to the ECM can coordinate extracellular and
intracellular changes
 The Role of Membrane
Carbohydrates in Cell-
Cell Recognition
Cell-cell recognition
Is a cell’s ability to distinguish one type of
neighboring cell from another
Membrane carbohydrates
Interact with the surface molecules of
other cells, facilitating cell-cell recognition
Synthesis and Sidedness of
Membranes

 Membranes have distinct inside and

outside faces
 This affects the movement of
proteins synthesized in the
endomembrane system (Golgi and
ER)
 Synthesis and Sidedness
of Membranes

Membrane proteins ER

and lipids are made

in the ER and Golgi
apparatus
 Membrane Permeability
 Membrane structure results in
selective permeability
 A cell must exchange materials with
its surroundings, a process controlled
by the plasma membrane
 Permeability of the
Lipid Bilayer
 Hydrophobic molecules
Are lipid soluble and can pass
through the membrane rapidly
 Polar molecules
Do NOT cross the membrane rapidly
 Transport Proteins
Transport proteins
Allow passage of hydrophilic
substances across the membrane
 Passive Transport
 Passive transport is diffusion of a
substance across a membrane with
no energy investment
 CO2, H2O, and O2 easily diffuse across
plasma membranes
 Diffusion of water is known as
Osmosis
 Simple Diffusion
 Requires no
energy
 Molecules move
from area of
high to low
concentration

21
Diffusion of Liquids

22
 Osmosis
 Diffusion of water Diffusion across a
membrane
across a membrane
 Moves from high
water potential
Semipermea
(low solute) to LOW ble
membrane
water potential
(high solute)

23
 Diffusion of H2O
Across A Membrane

High H2O potential Low H2O potential

Low solute High solute 24

concentration
 Aquaporins
 Water Channels
 Protein pores used during
OSMOSIS WATER
MOLECULES

25
Cell in Isotonic Solution
10% NaCL ENVIRONMENT
90% H2O

CELL
NO NET
10% MOVEMEN
NaCL T
90% H2O

What is the direction of water

movement? equilibrium
The cell is at _______________. 26
 Cell in Hypotonic
Solution
10% NaCL
90% H2O

CELL

20%
NaCL
80% H2O

What is the direction of water

movement? 27
 Cell in Hypertonic
Solution
15% NaCL ENVIRONMENT
85% H2O

CELL

5% NaCL
95% H2O

What is the direction of water

movement?
28
Cells in Solutions

29
Isotonic Solution Hypotonic Hypertoni
Solution c Solution
NO NET
MOVEMENT OF
H2O (equal CYTOLYSIS PLASMOLYSIS
amounts entering
& leaving)
30
Cytolysis & Plasmolysis

Cytolysis Plasmoly
sis 31
 Osmosis in Red Blood
Cells

Isotonic Hypoton Hypertoni

ic c 32
What Happens to Blood
Cells?

33
hree Forms of Transport Across the Membrane

34
 Facilitated Diffusion &
Proteins
Channel proteins
Provide corridors that allow a specific
molecule or ion to cross the membrane

EXTRACELLULAR
FLUID

Channel protein
Solute
CYTOPLASM
A channel protein (purple) has a channel through which
water molecules or a specific solute can pass.
 Facilitated Diffusion &
Carrier proteins
Proteins
Undergo a subtle change in shape that
translocates the solute-binding site
across the membrane

A carrier protein alternates between two conformations,

conformations moving a solute
across the membrane as the shape of the protein changes. The protein
can transport the solute in either direction,
direction with the net movement being
down the concentration gradient of the solute.
 Active Transport

Active transport
 Uses energy to move solutes against their
concentration gradients
 Requires energy, usually in the form of ATP
 Active Transport
The sodium-potassium pump
Is one type of active transport system
EXTRACELLULAR
FLUID

1Cytoplasmic Na+ binds to [Na+] high 2Na+ binding stimulates

the sodium-potassium pump. Na+
[K+] low
Na+ phosphorylation by ATP.
Na+ Na+

Na+

[Na+] low P ATP

Na+
CYTOPLASM [K+] high ADP

Na+
Na+

Na+

Phosphorylation causes the

K+ is released and Na+
3 K+ 4
protein to change its
sites are receptive again; K+ P
conformation, expelling Na+ to
the cycle repeats.
the outside.

P
K+ P i

K+

5
Loss of the phosphate K+
K+
6
Extracellular K+ binds to the
restores the protein’s protein, triggering release of the
original conformation. Phosphate group.
 Comparison of Passive &
Active Transport
Passive transport. Substances diffuse spontaneously
Active transport. Some transport proteins
down their concentration gradients, crossing a
act as pumps, moving substances across a
membrane with no expenditure of energy by the cell.
membrane against their concentration
The rate of diffusion can be greatly increased by transport
gradients. Energy for this work is usually
proteins in the membrane.
supplied by ATP.

ATP

Diffusion. Hydrophobic
Facilitated diffusion. Many hydrophilic
molecules and (at a slow
substances diffuse through membranes with
rate) very small uncharged
the assistance of transport proteins,
polar molecules can diffuse through the lipid
either channel or carrier proteins.
bilayer.
Maintenance of Membrane
Potential by Ion Pumps
 Membrane potential
Is the voltage difference across a membrane
 An electrochemical gradient
Is caused by the concentration electrical gradient of ions across a
membrane
 An electrogenic pump
Is a transport protein that generates the voltage across a membrane
 Proton Pump
–
+ EXTRACELLULAR
FLUID
–
ATP + H+

H+
Proton pump
H+

+
– H+

+ H+
–
CYTOPLASM
+ H+
+
–
 Cotransport
Cotransport
 Occurs when active transport of a

specific solute indirectly drives the

active transport of another solute
 Involves transport by a membrane

protein
 Driven by a concentration gradient
 Example of Cotransport
Cotransport: active transport driven by a
concentration gradient
 Bulk Transport
 Bulk transport across the plasma
membrane occurs by exocytosis and
endocytosis
 Large proteins
 Cross the membrane by different

mechanisms
Exocytosis & Endocytosis
 In exocytosis
Transport vesicles migrate to the plasma
membrane, fuse with it, and release their contents
 In endocytosis
The cell takes in macromolecules by forming new
vesicles from the plasma membrane
Endocytosis
Exocytosis
 Three Types of Endocytosis
In phagocytosis,
phagocytosis a cell
engulfs a particle by
Wrapping pseudopodia PHAGOCYTOSIS
around it and packaging
it within a membrane-
enclosed sac large
enough to be classified
as a vacuole.
vacuole The
particle is digested after
the vacuole fuses with a
lysosome containing
hydrolytic enzymes.

In pinocytosis,
pinocytosis the cell
“gulps” droplets of
extracellular fluid into tiny
vesicles. It is not the fluid
itself that is needed by the
cell, but the molecules
dissolved in the droplet.
Because any and all
included solutes are taken
into the cell, pinocytosis
is nonspecific in the
substances it transports.
 Endocytosis –
Phagocytosis

Used to engulf large particles such

as food, bacteria, etc. into vesicles
Called “Cell Eating” 49
Phagocytosis

- Capture of
a Yeast Cell
(yellow) by
membrane
extensions of
an Immune
System Cell
(blue)
50
 Pinocytosis
 Cell forms an
invagination
 Materials
dissolve in
water to be
brought into cell
 Called “Cell
Drinking”

51
 Example of Pinocytosis
pinocytic vesicles forming mature transport vesicle

Transport across a capillary cell

(blue). 52
 RECEPTOR-MEDIATED ENDOCYTOSIS
Coat protein
Receptor
Receptor-mediated endocytosis
Coated
enables the cell to acquire bulk vesicle
quantities of specific substances,
even though those substances may
not be very concentrated in the
extracellular fluid. Embedded in the
membrane are proteins with specific
receptor sites exposed to the
extracellular fluid. The receptor Coated
pit
proteins are usually already clustered Ligand
in regions of the membrane called
coated pits, which are lined on their
cytoplasmic side by a fuzzy layer of
coat proteins. Extracellular Coat A coated pit
substances (ligands) bind to these protein and a coated
receptors. When binding occurs, the vesicle formed
coated pit forms a vesicle containing during
receptor-
the ligand molecules. Notice that
mediated
there are relatively more bound endocytosis
molecules (purple) inside the vesicle, (TEMs).
other molecules (green) are also
present. After this ingested material is
liberated from the vesicle, the
Plasma
receptors are recycled to the plasma
membrane
membrane by the same vesicle.
0.25 µm
 Receptor-Mediated
Endocytosis

Some integral proteins have receptors

on their surface to recognize & take in
hormones, cholesterol, etc. 54
55