Week 5: The working cell

Please read Chapter 5 in the textbook.

The plasma membrane has many functions
The cell or plasma membrane serves many functions:
1. Acts as a barrier between the inside and outside of the cell
2. Controls what enters and exits the cell
3. Is the site of many cellular chemical reactions

Membrane structure starts with a lipid bilayer

Phospholipids form a stable bilayer in water

● Recall: phospholipids are amphipathic.

● Hydrophilic phosphate heads face the cytoplasm or extracellular space

● Hydrophobic fatty acid tails face each other

Membranes are a lipid bilayer with additional components
The plasma membrane is a fluid mosaic of lipids and proteins in a phospholipid bilayer

● Lipid molecules move freely in a lipid bilayer

● Proteins are embedded in the bilayer

● Carbohydrates decorate the cell surface and act as cell identification

Membrane proteins contribute to the “mosaic” of the plasma membrane

● Remember: membranes are a mosaic of lipids with proteins embedded within it

● Peripheral membrane proteins are surface proteins

o Held to the cell surface by H- and ionic bonds to phospholipid heads and other
membrane proteins
● Integral membrane proteins have hydrophobic domains that can interact with
phospholipid FA tails
o Transmembrane proteins span the membrane and contain both hydrophilic and
hydrophobic domains
o Are a type of integral membrane protein
Membrane proteins do a lot of cellular work!
Membrane proteins determine most of the membrane’s specific functions
Carbohydrates are the other component of the mosaic

● Carbohydrates decorate the cell surface

● Help identify cells

● Provides specificity in cell-cell interactions

o Glycolipids = sugar attached to a lipid
▪ E.g. Blood antigens that determine blood type
o Glycoproteins = sugar attached to a protein
▪ E.g. Receptors

The ABO blood group antigens are glycolipids.

The plasma membrane of red blood cells is decorated with many sugars

● One of them is used in blood typing: ABO blood group antigens

● An antigen is anything that causes an immune reaction (more later)

Draw and label a cell membrane. Be sure to include the following:

● Phospholipids (saturated/unsaturated), Glycoprotein, Glycolipid, Peripheral protein,

Transmembrane protein, Integral protein, Cholesterol
Recall: membranes have many functions

● Act as a barrier between the inside and the outside of the cell

● Control solute entry/exit

● Site of many cellular reactions

Membrane function: control of solute entry/exit

● Recall: membranes are selectively permeable. This means:

o Only some substances may cross the membrane
▪ How is this achieved?
o Hydrophobic substances dissolve in the lipid bilayer and can pass (e.g. CO2, O2,
steroids, etc.)

Membrane transport helps regulate membrane permeability

Transport proteins contribute to the selective permeability of membranes

● Transmembrane proteins
 ● Each transport protein is specific to one solute

● Some are channels (passive transport); there are other types (passive and active transport)

Diffusion across the cell membrane

The flow of molecules down their concentration gradient

● Diffusion = tendency of molecules to flow from high concentration to low concentration

● Common molecules that diffuse in cells include O2 CO2

o No additional energy is require. Diffusion is a type of passive transport
Each solute in solution follows their own independent concentration gradient

Both solutes will flow down their respective concentration gradients

Practice question:
Use arrows to indicate the net flow of salt in each beaker, assuming they are filled with
saline solutions.
What is osmosis?
Movement of water from low solute concentration to high solute concentration across a
selectively permeable membrane

Osmosis affects the way cells behave in solutions

Osmoregulation is the regulated flow of water into/out of cells
Tonicity: The ability of a surrounding solution to cause a cell to gain or lose water
Cells behave differently depending on the environment:

● Hypertonic solutions have a relatively higher solute concentration than inside of the cell

● Hypotonic solutions have a relatively lower solute concentration than inside of the cell

● Isotonic solutions have equal solute concentrations in/out of the cell

Animal and plant cells respond differently to osmotic conditions

In hypotonic solutions, animal cells will lyse (burst).
In hypertonic solutions, animal cells will shrivel.
Plant cells are uniquely adapted for hypotonic conditions

A hypotonic solution is best for plant cells

Plant cell's rigid cell wall exerts a back pressure (Turgor pressure) that prevents plant cells from
bursting.
In fact a lot of plant cell depend on this pressure to support its structure.

Practice question:
The cell membrane is permeable to water and glucose, but not sucrose. Water is the solvent in
the beaker and in the cell.
How would you describe the solution outside the cell, with respect to the cell?
A. Hypertonic
B. Hypotonic
C. Isotonic

In which direction will sucrose move?

A. Into the cell
B. Out of the cell
C. Stays where it is
In which direction will glucose move?
A. Into the cell
B. Out of the cell
C. Stays where it is
What will happen to the cell, at equilibrium?
A. It will shrink because of osmosis.
B. It will swell because of osmosis.
C. It will remain the same because the solution and the cytoplasm is isotonic.
How does water cross the plasma membrane?
Facilitated diffusion is a form of passive transport
Recall: only small nonpolar molecules pass through the lipid bilayer unassisted
Facilitated diffusion is just substances moving down their concentration gradients through
transport proteins

● Another type of Passive transport = requires no added energy

● E.g. channel proteins let charged or polar solutes move through the membrane

Water moves through the membrane using both forms of passive transport
Water is a very small polar molecule

● It crosses the plasma membrane inefficiently by simple diffusion

Water has dedicated transmembrane protein transporters called aquaporins that do not require
energy for transport

● What form of transport is this?

Active transport moves solutes against their concentration gradients

Active transport proteins can move solutes across a membrane against their concentration
gradients
 ● Requires added energy

E.g. Na+-K+ pump

● Heart muscle

● Neurons

Endocytosis imports material into the cell

Endocytosis is the process by which large molecules or particles are moved into the cell via
membrane vesicles

● Plasma membrane folds inward, capturing molecules near the cell surface and
internalizing them

Exocytosis actively exports material from the cell

Exocytosis is the process by which large molecules or particles move out of the cell

● Molecules loaded inside a membrane vesicle are released into the extracellular space by
fusing with the plasma membrane

Summary
The plasma membrane is a fluid mosaic
The plasma membrane has many important functions
Membrane proteins regulate membrane permeability

● Active and passive transport work together to ensure cells get what they need and
eliminate what they do not
Osmosis changes the behavior of cells in different solutions

● Water moves passively, both by simple and facilitated diffusion

Energy Processing in the Cell

Energy and the cell
Recall: the plasma membrane is the site of many chemical reactions
Cells transform energy via enzyme-controlled chemical reactions

● Energy is the capacity to do work

We will focus on two forms of energy

Kinetic energy is energy of movement/actually doing work
 ● Energy an object has due to motion

● Includes heat and light

Potential energy is stored energy

● Energy an object has due to its position or the ability for that energy to be converted into
another form of energy
● Includes ATP and food

Thermodynamics
The study of energy transformation that occurs in a collection of matter is called
Thermodynamics.
The word "system" in thermodynamics refer to the matter that is being studied,
Surrounding is everything outside the system.
The first law of thermodynamics tells us energy can neither be created nor destroyed
The first law of thermodynamics states:
Energy can be neither created nor destroyed
So when we eat food, where does the energy go?
Organisms transform energy for survival
Organisms use chemical energy by breaking bonds
Potential energy stored in the original molecules is released and is transformed into kinetic
energy
During every energy transfer or transformation, some energy becomes unavailable to do work.
For example, when you put gasoline in the car to drive, a lot of the energy stored in the fossil
fuels are converted to heat (thermal energy)

What is entropy?
Entropy:
 ● Is ever increasing in our universe

● Is complicated
o A convenient way to think of it is as a measure of randomness or chaos
● As one system becomes more ordered, its surroundings become more disordered
o In energy conversions, some energy is always converted to heat
● Heat is related to entropy because it is disordered energy.

The second laws of thermodynamics

The second law of thermodynamics states:
Because transformations of energy are never 100% efficient, energy transformations increase
disorder or entropy
We benefit from the second law of thermodynamics
Muscle cells convert chemical potential energy stored in glucose into kinetic energy when we
move
Since that energy conversion is never 100% efficient, our muscle cells also generate heat
That heat helps regulate our body temperature
Another example of the laws of thermodynamics
What is cellular metabolism?
All of the chemical reactions in a cell

● In other words: all of the ways organisms transform energy!

Two general types of cellular reactions:

● Catabolic reactions

● Anabolic reactions

Catabolism versus anabolism

1. Catabolic reactions release energy by breaking complex molecules into smaller
compounds
● Exergonic or energy releasing
2. Anabolic reactions consume energy by building complex molecules from smaller ones
● Endergonic or energy-consuming

Anabolic and catabolic reactions are coupled by ATP

Most energy coupling in the cell is mediated by ATP
When bonds in ATP are hydrolyzed, it releases energy

● ATP -> ADP + Pi

ATP drives almost all endergonic reactions in the cell

The hydrolysis of ATP is endergonic/exergonic.
What is energy-coupling?
ATP is a renewable cellular resource

● When exergonic reactions release energy, that energy is stored as ATP

● The ATP is used to power cellular endergonic reactions

● Energy released by exergonic reactions is used to power endergonic reactions = energy

coupling

Cellular metabolic reactions are carried out by enzymes

Recall: enzymes act as biological catalysts

● What is a catalyst?

Enzymes can perform reactions over and over

Without enzymes, the chemical reactions would eventually proceed

● But with enzymes, the reactions proceed faster.

Chemical reactions must overcome energy barriers to proceed
Biological molecules store a lot of potential energy

● Not released spontaneously

● Need to overcome an energy barrier = bonds must be weakened before reactions can
proceed
The energy barrier is called activation energy (EA)

● This is the amount of energy required to move a reactant to a higher energy state to start a
reaction
Enzymes lower the activation energy of cellular chemical reactions
Enzymes speed up reactions by lowering the EA of the reaction they catalyze

● Without enzymes, the energy to overcome the EA is often supplied in the form of heat
from the surroundings
Enzymes lower the EA of a reaction without adding energy

● Enzymes also cannot catalyze non-spontaneous reactions

A specific enzyme catalyzes each cellular reaction
Enzymes are selective

● They only use specific substrates

● Determines what reactions will occur

Enzyme shape is responsible for selectivity

● “Lock and key” mechanism

● A substrate is the specific reactant that an enzyme acts on

● The enzyme active site is the part of the enzyme that acts on the substrate to catalyze the
chemical reaction

A specific enzyme catalyzes each cellular reaction

Each cell has thousands of different enzymes
Each enzyme performs a specific cellular reaction
Each enzyme has an optimal range of conditions
Temperature, pH, salt concentration, etc.

Enzyme inhibitors stop enzyme action

Inhibitors are substances that block the ability of enzymes to function
Competitive inhibitors

● Block substrate entry into the active site

● Reduce enzyme productivity

Non-competitive inhibitors

● Bind enzyme outside of the active site (do not compete with substrate for entry)

● Binding changes the shape of the active site  inability of substrate to bind active site
Many antibiotics are enzyme inhibitors
Most antibiotics are inhibitors of bacterial enzymes. Many act on the proteins and carbohydrates
of bacterial cell wall.
Why wouldn’t antibiotics interfere with our (human) cellular enzymes?
Many important therapeutic drugs are enzyme inhibitors
AZT, a drug that is used to treat HIV infections, inhibits the action of a viral enzyme

● Reverse transcriptase converts RNA into DNA in HIV

Summary
All of the chemical reactions in a cell is called cellular metabolism
Metabolic reactions are either catabolic or anabolic
ATP links catabolic and anabolic reactions
Enzymes catalyze cellular reactions
Enzymes can be inhibited