Kurdistan Regional Government

Ministry of Higher Education

University of Garmian
College of Agricultural Engineering
Sciences
Animal Production Department

Subject:
Biochemistry

Report Title:
Membrane Lipids

Prepared by:
Aga Kurdistan Hamid

Supervised by:
Mr. Arkan Mohamed

Second year (first semester)

1
 Membrane lipids

Explaining………………………………………………...2-5

Biological roles……………………………………….......5

Function of the Lipid Membrane………………………..6

Abstract……………………………………………….......7

References………………………………………………...7

2
Explaining
Membrane lipids are principally phospholipids and sterols (generally
cholesterol) .Both types share the defining characteristic of lipids—they dissolve
readily in organic solvents—but in addition they both have a region that is
attracted to and soluble in water. This “amphiphilic” property (having a dual
attraction; i.e., containing both a lipid-soluble and a water-soluble region) is
basic to the role of lipids as building blocks of cellular membranes.
Phospholipid molecules have a head (often of glycerol) to which are attached
two long fatty acid chains that look much like tails. These tails are repelled by
water and dissolve readily in organic solvents, giving
the molecule its lipid character. To another part of the head is attached a
phosphoryl group with a negative electrical charge; to this group, in turn, is
attached another group with a positive or neutral charge. This portion of the
phospholipid dissolves in water, thereby completing the molecule’s amphiphilic
character. In contrast, sterols have a complex hydrocarbon ring structure as the
lipid-soluble region and a hydroxyl grouping as the water-soluble region.

Glycerophospholipid structure
The general structural formula of a glycerophospholipid. The composition of the specific molecule
depends on the chemical group (designated R3 in the diagram) linked to the phosphate and glycerol
“head” and also on the lengths of the fatty acid “tails” (R1 and R2).

3
When dry phospholipids, or a mixture of such phospholipids and cholesterol, are
immersed in water under laboratory conditions, they spontaneously form
globular structures called liposomes. Investigation of the liposomes shows them
to be made of concentric spheres, one sphere inside of another and each forming
half of a bilayered wall. A bilayer is composed of two sheets of phospholipid
molecules with all of the molecules of each sheet aligned in the same direction.
In a water medium, the phospholipids of the two sheets align so that their water-
repellent, lipid-soluble tails are turned and loosely bonded to the tails of the
molecules on the other sheet. The water-soluble heads turn outward into the
water, to which they are chemically attracted. In this way, the two sheets form a
fluid, sandwichlike structure, with the fatty acid chains in the middle mingling in
an organic medium while sealing out the water medium.

Liposome
Phospholipids can be used to form artificial structures called liposomes, which are double-walled
hollow spheres useful for encapsulating other molecules such as pharmaceutical drugs.

This type of lipid bilayer, formed by the self-assembly of lipid molecules, is the
basic structure of the cell membrane. It is the most stable thermodynamic
structure that a phospholipid-water mixture can take up: the fatty acid portion of
each molecule dissolved in the organic phase formed by the identical regions of
the other molecules and the water-attractive regions surrounded by water and
facing away from the fatty acid regions. The chemical affinity of each region of
the amphiphilic molecule is thus satisfied in the bilayer structure.

4
Lipid bilayer; cell membrane
Phospholipid molecules, like molecules of many lipids, are composed of a hydrophilic “head” and one
or more hydrophobic “tails.” In a water medium, the molecules form a lipid bilayer, or two-layered
sheet, in which the heads are turned toward the watery medium and the tails are sheltered inside, away
from the water. This bilayer is the basis of the membranes of living cells.

Biological roles
The bilayer formed by membrane lipids serves as a containment unit of a living
cell. Membrane lipids also form a matrix in which membrane proteinsreside.
Historically lipids were thought to merely serve a structural role. Functional
roles of lipids are in fact many: They serve as regulatory agents in cell
growth and adhesion. They participate in the biosynthesis of other biomolecules.
They can serve to increase enzymatic activities of enzymes.
Non-bilayer forming lipid like monogalactosyl diglyceride (MGDG)
predominates the bulk lipids in thylakoid membranes, which when hydrated
alone, forms reverse hexagonal cylindrical phase. However, in combination with
other lipids and carotenoids/chlorophylls of thylakoid membranes, they too
conform together as lipid bilayers.

5
Function of the Lipid Membrane
A lipid membrane serves many functions within unicellular organism
multicellular organism alike. Regardless if a cell is living freely in pond water or
confined in your body serving a function, it needs to maintain different
conditions for the various reactions it needs to conduct to survive. In all
applications, the lipid bilayer acts as the filter between the inside and outside.
However, depending on the conditions the exact functions of the lipid bilayer
can change.
Imagine two cells, one in the ocean and one in a pond. Pond water is fresh,
whereas the ocean water contains many dissolved salts. In the pond, water will
want to move into the more hypertonic, or saltier, cell. In the ocean, the salts in
the water will draw water out of the cell. These two differing situations show
how important the proteins in a lipid bilayer are. While each bilayer stops the
ions and slows the movement of water, it can only hold back a certain pressure.
Water will continually leach into or out of the cell. Different types of organisms
have different strategies for dealing with water loss, most depending on proteins
within the lipid bilayer or extracellular support structures (cell walls) to help
mitigate water and ions appropriately.
Of these membrane proteins ion pumps, ion channels, and aquaporins. Ion
pumps rely on cellular energy sources (e.g. ATP) to actively move unwanted
ions across a lipid bilayer. Ion channels, on the other hand, respond to a signal
(electrical or chemical) and open accordingly. Aquaporins are a type of ion
channel allowing larger quantities of water to pass through the membrane at the
appropriate time.
The lipid bilayer and its associated proteins provide another function for cells, in
the way of cellular signaling. They can be involved in a number of ways.
In signal transduction, a signal is passed through the lipid bilayer using a series
of integral and surface proteins, creating a reaction internally. Lipid bilayers are
also directly involved in the transmission of nerve impulses. When a nerve
impulse reaches the end of a nerve, called the synapse, it sends a signal for
special vesicles to fuse with the lipid bilayer of the cell membrane. The vesicles,
filled with neurotransmittermolecules, release their contents upon fusing. This
sends the neurotransmitter across the synaptic cleft, where the next nerve
cell can receive it. On this nerve cell, the binding of the neurotransmitter to
special proteins causes the formation of an electrical action potential, which
moves as an electrical wave down the lipid bilayer.

6
Abstract
Cell membranes are composed of a lipid bilayer, containing proteins that span
the bilayer and/or interact with the lipids on either side of the two leaflets. This
principle combines the potential for sphingolipid-cholesterol self-assembly with
protein specificity to focus and regulate membrane bioactivity.

References

1. Widmaier, E. P., Raff, H., & Strang, K. T. (2008). Vander’s Human

Physiology: The Mechanisms of Body Function (11th ed.). Boston: McGraw-
Hill Higher Education.

2. R. B. Gennis. Biomembranes - Molecular Structure and Function. Springer-

Verlag, New York (1989).

3. YashRoy R.C. (1990) Lamellar dispersion and phase separation of chloroplast

membrane lipids by negative staining electron microscopy. Journal of
Biosciences, vol. 15(2), pp. 93-98.

4. https://www.britannica.com/science/cell-biology/Secondary-active-transport

5. http://m.cshperspectives.cshlp.org/content/3/10/a004697.abstract