Cel

ltr
anspor
tmechani
sms

Thepl
asmamembr
ane

Armedwiththi
sknowl edgeofli
pids,aswellascarbohydratesandprotei
ns,wecannowexpl ore
thest
ruct
ureofplasmamembr anes,speci
fi
callyi
nthecont extofthefl
uid-
mosaicmodel.
Phosphol
ipi
dshaveahy dr
ophi
li
c( waterl
oving)head,andhy dr
ophobic(waterr
epel
li
ng)tai
ls.
Thisr
esul
tsintheformat i
onofaphospholipidbil
ayer(doublelay
er),whi
chformsthebasisfor
thepl
asmamembr ane.

Thenameoff
lui
d-mosai
cmodel
comesf
rom:

Fl
uid=t
hear
rangementofpr
otei
nscont
ainedi
nthemembr
anei
sal
way
schangi
ng

Mosai
c=t
hepr
otei
nspr
esentar
espr
eadar
oundi
namosai
c-l
i
kef
ashi
on.
It
’spr
ettyi
sn’ti
t?Thepr oteinsarecruci alt
ocel l
communi cati
onaswellast
heselecti
ve
permeabil
i
tyofthemembr ane.Thegl ycoprotei
ns’(sugars/car
bohydrat
esat
tachedtoaprotei
n)
si
dechainsactasr eceptors.Lipidsolublestuffsuchasv i
taminsA,DandK,aswellasoxygen
andcarbondioxide,canpassf r
eelythought hemembr ane.Cholest
erol
canbepartofthe
membr anetorestri
ctthemov ementofot hercomponent s.

Themainpr
oper
ti
esofmolecul
esthatdet
ermi
nehowt
heymaybet
ranspor
tedacr
ossa
membranear
esolubi
l
ity
,si
zeandcharge.

Largemoleculescan’
tcr ossthemembr ane,char
gedmoleculesalsocan’
t,andnatur
all
y,l
i
pid-
repel
li
ng(orwater-
attr
act i
ng)molecul
escan’t.Conv
ersel
y,smallmolecul
escancrossthe
membr anebarri
er,al
ongsidemoleculeswithnocharge(noni
onised)aswellasli
pophil
i
c
(hydr
ophobic)molecules.

I
t’
simport
antt
ounderstandt
her
oleofmi
crov
il
li
.Thesear
eelongati
onsofpl
asmamembr
ane
whi
chincr
easethesur
facear
eaavai
l
abl
eforr
eacti
onorabsorpt
ion.
Passi
vet
ranspor
t

Di
ff
usi
on

Dif
fusi
on=t hespr
eadofpart
icl
esfr
om aregi
onofhigherconcent
rat
iont
oar
egi
onofl
ower
concent
rat
ion,unt
ilt
hepar
ti
clesar
eevenl
yspreadout.

Di
ffusi
ontakesplacewhenyouuseaspr ayi
nar oom,forexample.Thepart
icl
esinthespray
mov er
andomly,knocki
ngeachother,
whichresul
tsinthem spr
eadingthr
oughouttheroom
gr
aduall
y,f
rom highconcent
rat
iontolowconcentr
ati
on.Theref
ore,di
ff
usionactsdown( or
al
ong)aconcentrati
ongradi
ent
.

I
tisi
mpor
tantt
oknowwhataf
fect
sther
ateofdi
ff
usi
on.Thesear
e:

1.Sur
facear
ea–t
hegr
eat
ert
hesur
facear
ea,
thef
ast
erdi
ff
usi
onwi
l
loccur

2.Diff
erencei
nconcentr
ati
on–t
hehi
ghert
hedi
ff
erence(
thest
eepert
hegr
adi
ent
),t
hef
ast
er
di
ffusi
onwi l
ltakepl
ace

3.Thet
hicknessoft
heexchangesur
face–t
het
hickert
heexchangesur
face,
thesl
owert
he
rat
eofdi
ffusion.

Ofcoursether
eareotherfact
orssuchastemperat
ure(i
ncr
easedki
neti
cenergyresul
tsinfast
er
di
ff
usion)andthedi
ffusi
onpathway(dist
ance)
.Thelat
teri
sasideef
fectof(
3.)Thethickness
oft
heexchangesurface,i
nsomer espect
s.

Faci
l
itat
eddi
ff
usi
on

I
nsomecases, dif
fusi
onisaidedbycer t
ainpr
oteins.Thi
siscall
edfaci
li
tateddi
ff
usion.The
responsibl
eprotei
nsspeedupdi ff
usionofsubstanceswhichwouldotherwiset
akelongert
o
passt hr
oughtheplasmamembr ane.Thekeypointsaboutfaci
li
tat
eddiff
usionwhich
diff
erenti
atei
tfr
om activ
etransport(whichal
sousespr ot
eins)
:

-
itoccur
sdownaconcent
rat
iongr
adi
ent

-
itusesnomet
abol
i
cener
gy
Twoki ndsofproteinachievefacil
i
tateddif
fusi
on:car
ri
erpr
otei
nsandionchannel
s.Car
ri
er
prot
einstransportsubstancesfrom onesideofthemembranetotheother
,usual
l
ybyco-
tr
anspor t
.Forexample,glucoseistransport
edalongwit
hanNa+ion.

I
onchannel
sareprotei
nswit
hgatest
hatcanbeopenorcl
osedt
oal
l
oworst
opcer
tai
nions
f
rom ent
eri
ng,
e.g.Na+(sodi
um)andK+(potassi
um)i
ons.

Osmosi
s

Osmosisisthedi f
fusi
onofwateracrossasemi
-per
meabl
emembr ane.The“concent
rat
ion”of
wat
erisreferredtoaswaterpotent
ial
.Soosmosisi
sthemovementofwaterfrom ahi
gher
wat
erpotentialtoalowerwaterpot
ential
acr
ossamembrane.

Forosmosi stooccuritisessenti
alt
hatthereisasemi-per
meablemembr aneseparat
ingtwo
envi
ronment swit
hadi ffer
entsolut
econcentrati
on.Thesolut
emustbeunabl etocr
ossthe
membr ane( mol
eculestoobig),butt
hewat ermolecul
esarefreet
opasst hr
oughandleadt oan
equi
li
brium.Intheabov eimage,theri
ghtsideofthebeakerhasahigherwaterpot
enti
althan
thel
eftside,sowatermov esinfrom r
ighttoleft
.

Youmustal
solearnthetermisot
onic.Asolut
ionisisot
oni
cwhenithast
hesamewat
er
pot
ent
ial
asanothersolut
ion.AnexampleisRinger’
ssolut
ionwhi
chhast
hesamewat
er
pot
ent
ial
asbloodplasma, socanbeusedtokeept i
ssuesali
ve.
Endocy
tosi
sandexocy
tosi
s

Al otofmol eculesessentialtoli
fearetool
argetosimplycr
osst heplasmamembr ane,oreven
passt hroughpr otei
nchannel sembeddedwi t
hin.Thewaythesear etransport
edisbybei ng
env el
opedi nlipi
dbubbl esthatjoi
nwi t
hthemainmembr aneandopenupt orel
easet hecontent
tot heothersideoft hemembr ane(endocy
tosi
s).Conver
sel
y ,abubble,call
edvesicle,al
readyi
n
thecy t
oplasm canmer gewi t
ht heplasmamembr aneandreleaseitscontentontheout side
(exocytosis).Thisprocessdoesuseener gy(ATP,seenexttopic)
.

Endocy
tosi
sandexocy
tosisarer
ev ersepr
ocesses,i
nvol
vethef
usi
onofvesicl
eswiththe
pl
asmamembr ane,
andtranspor
tlargeamounts,hencebei
ngmethodsofbulkt
ransport
.

Act
ivet
ranspor
t

Unli
kedif
fusi
on,osmosisandf acili
tat
eddi
ffusion,acti
vetransportr
equir
esenergyi
ntheform
ofATP(adenosi
net r
iphosphate)
, andmovessubst ancesagai nstaconcent
rat
iongr
adient(
from
alowerconcent
rati
ontoahi gherconcentr
ation).Thisprocessisessenti
ali
nremovi
ngofall
toxi
nsfr
om thebody,aswel lasthemov ementofr arechemi cal
s

Acti
vetranspor
tisachi
evedbyspeci
fi
ccarr
ierpr
otei
nsintheplasmamembrane,andreli
eson
adequateoxygensuppl
y(whichr
esul
tsinATPbeingavai
labl
e).Here’
saqui
ckvideothatshows
theprocess:

Therearecert
aincell
swhi chcar
ryouracti
vetr
anspor
tmor et
hanothers,forexampleinthe
ki
dney.Thesecellshavespecial
adaptati
ons,
suchasmicrovi
l
lif
orincreasedsurfacearea,
hencemor ecarr
ierprot
einsavai
labl
e,aswell
asmanymi t
ochondri
af ortheproducti
onofATP.
ATPandADP

AsIwr i
tet
hisIam absolut
elyknacker
edwhichi
sjuuuuuuuuusthil
ari
ousasIam abouttocover
ATP!Adenosinetr
iphosphat
eisasmal lmol
ecul
ewhoseconst antbreaki
ngdownandput t
ing
backtoget
herreacti
onsformthebasisofourbi
ologi
calpr
ocesseswhi chrequi
rechemi
cal
ener
gy.

Asformanyofthedif
ferentotherchemical
sthatwehav ecoveredsuchascar bohy dr
atesand
nucl
eicaci
ds,
theseATPr eacti
onsarecondensati
onandhy dr
olysis.However,
her ewear enot
tal
ki
ngaboutmonomer sformingpolymersorpoly
mer sbreakingbacki nt
omonomer s.Weare
tal
ki
ngaboutadenosi
net r
iphosphatebr
eakingdowni ntoadenosinediphosphate,inorgani
c
phosphat
eandenergy;andthelatt
erjoi
ningbacktogethertomakeadenosi netriphosphate
again.

Whent hehy dr
oly
sisofATP( vi
atheenzymeATPhy dr
olase)iscoupledt oot
herreact
ions
requi
ri
ngener gy,
itenabl
estheseprocessestot
akeplace.Theinorganicphosphater
eleased
canit
selftakepartinafur
therphosphoryl
ati
onr
eacti
onwi t
hanot herchemical
,oft
enincreasi
ng
i
tsreacti
vi
ty.

Thecondensat
ionofADPandinorgani
cphosphat
etakesplacedur
ingphotosy
nthesi
sand
respi
rat
ion,
andiscat
aly
sedbytheenzymeATPsy nt
hase.Becauseitsy
nthesi
sesATP.Geti
t
getit
.