Learning intention: To model the structure and

function of the fluid mosaic model of the cell

membrane.
Success criteria: Explain and model the structure
of a cell membrane
Do now: Create as many words as you can out the
words: “PHOSPHOLIPID BILAYER”
Membranes are the gatekeepers of the
cell

Every living organism, whether eukaryotic/prokaryotic or animal or

bacterium, possesses cells that are surrounded by a membrane.
These membranes act as the gatekeepers of the cell, controlling what
enters and leave, among several other important roles.
Intracellular membranes allow
compartmentalization

Eukaryotic cells have membranes within the cells themselves. These

intracellular membranes are found surrounding eukaryotic organelles; they
allow different conditions to be present and therefore different chemical
reactions to occur in each separate region of the cell.
These separation of the cell components is called compartmentalization.
Compartmentalization of organelles in a cell can be likened to how rooms
in a house are separated from each other.
Organelles and their membranes

An organelle is subcellular structure that carries out a specific function. It

may or may not be compartmentalized by a membrane.
A membrane that surrounds an organelle may be a single layer or two
layers, referred to as a double membrane.
Organelles that have double membranes include the nucleus, mitochondria
and chloroplasts.
Organelles that have a single membrane include lysosomes and the Golgi
apparatus, sometimes called the Golgi body.
Membranes as site of reactions

The eukaryotic intracellular organelle membranes are often a site of

chemical reactions.
The RER is one such example, with ribosomes embedded in its membrane
to carry out protein synthesis. This makes the RER appear “rough” in
contrast to the SER, which has no ribosomes. Both RER and SER have a
single membrane.
The inner membrane of mitochondria and membranes of the chloroplast
are the sites of aerobic respiration and come reactions in photosynthesis
respectively.
Membranes are semipermeable

Cellular membranes are often described as semipermeable, meaning that

only certain molecules can pass through them, using proteins embedded in
their surface. The membranes can be likened to walls separating the rooms
of a house. They control which substances will move into and out of the
cell, with proteins acting effectively as the “doors” to each “room” which
can be “locked” or “unlocked” for specific substances.
Plasma Membrane

A plasma membrane is a semipermeable barrier consisting of a bilayer of

phospholipids and other embedded molecules. Plasma membranes
surround all calls separating them from their external environment
 The Phospholipid Bilayer
Whether they are internal cell membranes or are at the cells surface, all
cellular membranes have the same basic structure called the phospholipid
bilayer.
The Phospholipid Bilayer

Membranes are mostly composed of molecules called phospholipids, which

have a hydrophilic (water-loving) phosphate head and a hydrophobic
(water-fearing) fatty acid tail.
The word bilayer refers to the fact that there are two layers of these
phospholipids, one facing outward to the external environment and one
facing inward to the contents of the cell cytoplasm.
The Phospholipid Arrangement

As most cells, and components within them, are in an aqueous

environment (containing water), the hydrophilic phosphate heads arrange
themselves to be close to them on both the internal and external surfaces
of the membrane. The fatty acid tails however are repelled by the water
molecules and arrange themselves facing inward and towards each other.
Phospholipid Bilayer

The phospholipid bilayer is a membrane consisting of two layer of lipid

molecules with a hydrophilic phosphate head and hydrophobic fatty acid
tails.
Hydrophilic phosphate heads – are the parts of phospholipid molecules
that are attracted to water and form the surface of cellular membranes
that are in aqueous environments.
Hydrophobic fatty acid tails are the parts of phospholipid molecules that
are repelled by water and form the inner core of the cellular membrane.
Draw and label a phospholipid
Fluid Mosaic Model
When the phospholipid
bilayer was first observed
under an electron
microscope, it appeared as
“tram tracks,” which helped
scientists determine that the
membrane had two layers.
The “tram tracks” appear in
the false-coloured
micrograph showing the
phospholipid bilayers at the
border of four different
epithelial cells.
Fluid Mosaic Model (FMM)
The FMM describes how the
phospholipids are, to a certain
degree, free to move fluidly
throughout the membrane as
they are not chemically bound to
each other but simply attracted to
or repelled by water molecules.
The term mosaic refers to the
molecules (mostly proteins) of
different shapes and sizes that are
embedded in various sections of
the plasma membrane, much like
tiles of a mosaic.
Fluid Mosaic Model
The fluid mosaic model if a way of understanding how cellular
membranes function as the phospholipids are fluid, moving freely
within the membrane with molecules of different shapes and sizes
embedded in the membrane like mosaic tiles.
Active vs Passive Transport
Depending on the concentration of molecules inside and outside the
cell, they may need to be either actively or passively transported by
carrier proteins.
Active transport requires energy to transport molecules because they
are moving against their concentration gradient.
Passive transport does not require energy to transport molecules as
they are moving down their concentration gradient.
If there was a high concentration of glucose outside the cell and a
lower concentration inside, for example, glucose would move into the
cell down its concentration gradient by passive transport, using the
carrier proteins but no energy.
Intrinsic Proteins
One of the types of
proteins embedded in the
fluid mosaic is called an
intrinsic protein
transmembrane or
integral protein), which
spans both layers of the
membrane. All intrinsic
proteins are globular
proteins which
hydrophobic regions that
Intrinsic Proteins are embedded through both
layers of a membrane and can be carrier or
channel proteins for transporting substances
actively or passively into or out the cell.
Channel Proteins
An example of an intrinsic protein in the diagram is a channel
protein.
These contain a hydrophobic pore through which polar molecules
and ions can travel passively by diffusion down the concentration
gradient. These substances would otherwise not be able to be
transported across the membrane due to the hydrophobic nature of
the phospholipid fatty acid tails.
Channel Proteins are intrinsic proteins that provide a hydrophilic
channel allowing the diffusion of polar molecules and ions down
their concentration gradient through membranes.
Carrier Proteins
Carrier proteins are another type of
intrinsic protein. They contain
receptors specific to one molecule.
For example, glucose is being
transported from the extracellular
space into the cell. Due to the
specific shape of the receptor, no
other molecules would for into the
glucose carrier protein. It may help
to visualize glucose as the only
molecule that has a “key” for the
specific protein “door”.
When glucose binds to the
receptor on the carrier protein, the
protein changes shape and
releases glucose on the other side
Carrier Proteins – are intrinsic proteins that have a receptor
with a specific shape complementary to certain molecules,
and upon binding them, they undergo a change in shape to
transport the molecules through a membrane either up
(active transport) or down (passive transport) their
concentration gradient.
Glycoproteins
Glycoproteins are an example of an intrinsic protein. The glycol-
prefix of the word indicates that the proteins attached to a
carbohydrate (sugar) chain. Glycoproteins help cells adhere to each
other and stick together, and they can also act as receptors.
The general rule of a receptor is to allow a specific chemical, such as
a hormone, to bind to it and to elicit a response in the cell. This is
called cell signalling, and it allows the cells of the body to
communicate with each other efficiently.
Glycoproteins are a type of intrinsic protein attached to a
carbohydrate chain that help cells adhere to each other and act as
receptors for different chemicals to elicit a response in the cell (cell
signalling).
Glycolipids
Glycolipids are like glycoproteins, but instead of a carbohydrate
chain attaching to an intrinsic protein, they attach directly to the
phospholipids in the bilayer.
They are sometimes referred to as cell markers or antigens, as they
are used to immune system in cell recognition to identify cells as self
or nonself. If cells are nonself, it indicates they do not belong to the
organism itself and are therefore possibly harmful and must be
destroyed.
Glycolipids are lipids attached to carbohydrate chains, often celled
call markers or antigens, that can be recognised by the immune
system as self or nonself, the latter indicating that are attached to
cells from another organism, such as a pathogen.
Extrinsic Proteins
Extrinsic proteins, or peripheral proteins, do not cross the entire
diameter of the membrane like intrinsic proteins. Instead, they are
embedded on just one side of the phospholipid bilayer, interacting
with the phosphate head of a phospholipid on either the interior or
exterior surface of the membrane or within an intrinsic protein.
Extrinsic proteins are peripheral proteins embedded only on one
side of the membrane, interacting either with the phosphate head of
a phospholipid or with embedded intrinsic proteins.
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is seen in the diagram as a small red structure embedded
between phospholipid molecules. Cholesterol is an abundant lipid in
the membrane of animal cells.
Cholesterol has a hydrophilic head and a rigid, bulky hydrophobic tail
that interacts with the phospholipid tails in the membrane. Through
these interactions that modulate the packing of phospholipids in the
membrane, cholesterol can either increase or reduce the fluidity of
membranes as a function of temperature.
Cholesterol is a liqud molecule that regulates the fluidity of
membranes over a wide range of temperatures by fitting between
the phospholipid molecules.
Low Temperature’s Effect on Plasma
Membrane
Temperature has a significant impact on the fluidity of cellular
membranes.
At low temperatures, phospholipids tend to move less and become
more tightly organised in a crystal-like structure. Therefore, low
temperatures make membranes more rigid, which can interfere with
key functions likes the passage of gases. More rigidity also makes
membranes more prone to break.
High Temperatures Effect on Plasma
Membrane
At higher temperatures, more thermal (heat) energy is supplied to
the phospholipids in the bilayer, which increases their kinetic energy,
or movement speed, increasing the fluidity of the membrane.
If the membrane is more fluid, its permeability increases as there are
many more spaces through which substances can move.
Another issue is that the embedded proteins can become denatured
(irreversibly changing shape) if the temperature rises above their
optimum level. This means that they can no longer carry out their
transport roles.
Cholesterol as a Buffer
Cholesterol acts like a buffer that maintains stable membrane fluidity
over a wide range of temperatures.
At low temperatures, cholesterol limits the rigidity of cell
membranes by disrupting the phospholipids’ tight and regular
organization with its bulky tail, thereby increasing membrane
fluidity.
A higher temperatures, however, the cholesterol tail keeps strong
interactions with the surrounding phospholipids and pulls them
together, which prevents the membrane from becoming too fluid.
Organic Solvents Effect on Plasma
Membrane
Organic solvents that are less polar than water, such as alcohols or
nonpolar solvents, are capable of dissolving plasma membranes.
An example of this is in antiseptics: the alcohol disrupts the
membranes of bacterial cells by dissolving the fatty acids of the
phospholipids, killing the bacteria.
Alcohol is present in alcoholic drinks, which disorders cell
membranes neurons. This disrupts the transmission of nerve
impulses and makes the person’s reactions slower, among other
behavioural side effects. Some more hydrophobic substances, such
as certain drugs, are also able to pass the membrane directly.
Activities
1. Draw and label the fluid mosaic model.
2. Create a table which lists the ‘type of protein’, its ‘location’ and
its ‘function’
3. Complete the quiz
4. Complete homework sheets.