Cell Walls vs.

Cell Membranes
1. All cells have a cell membrane. 2. Not all cells have a cell wall.

Cell Wall
Mostly mechanical role Provide support (strength and rigidity) to cell Some filtering capacity Plants, fungi, bacteria and archaea

Cell Membrane
Semi-permeable barrier that contains the cell protoplasm Controls movement of substances in and out of cell

Membranes serve multiple functions

1. Compartmentalization
Allow specialized activities to proceed without external interference Enables cellular activities to be regulated independently of one another

2. Control exchange of molecules

Provide a selectively permeable barrier Contain the machinery for transporting substances from one side of the membrane to the other

3. Serve as binding sites for external signals

Provide support for membrane receptors that play a crucial role in signal transduction

Plasma Membrane

4. Mediate intercellular interaction

Mediates interactions between neighboring cells

5. Serve as locus for biochemical activities

Provides the cell with an extensive framework of scaffolding within which components can be ordered for effective interaction.

6. Serve as locus for energy transduction

Contains pigments that absorb sunlight to convert to chemical energy - chloroplasts Involved in transfer of chemical energy to ATP mitochondria

Fluid Mosaic Model

Current model for organization of all membranes Bilayer of lipids
Each layer = leaflet Fluid part

Proteins
Mosaic part

Carbohydrates
Glycoproteins
Glycolipids

Lipids
Structurally diverse group
Soluble in organic solvents

Insoluble in water
Include fats, steroids and phospholipids

Fats
Triacylglycerol molecules
Glycerol backbone

3 fatty acids attached to backbone

 Fatty acids
Long unbranched hydrocarbon chains 14-20 carbons carboxyl group at 1 end Amphipathic hydrophobic hydrocarbon chain

hydrophilic carboxyl group

net negative charge at physiological pH

 Saturated

Unsaturated
Produce kinks in fatty acid chain

Prevents regular packing

More irregular with increasing number of double bonds Lowers melting temperature Monounsaturated one double bond present Polyunsaturated two or more double bonds present

Steroids
Hydrocarbon skeleton with 4 rings Different attached groups based on steroid

Role of cholesterol
Prevents regular packing of saturated fatty acyl chains
Tends to abolish sharp transition temperature In the absence of cholesterol, membranes would crystallize at physiological temperatures

Enhances mechanical rigidity of the membrane while preserving the fluidity.

Regulation of membrane fluidity

Maintenance of membrane fluidity is important for cellular structure. Research on phagocytosis and cell signaling suggest that cells can adjust the fluidity in certain regions of the membrane lipids rafts Homeoviscous adaptation in poikilothermic organisms - bacteria, plants, fungi, and cold-blooded animals Decrease in saturated fatty acids at lower temps and increase in saturated fatty acids at higher temps

Phospholipids
Diacylglycerols
Glycerol backbone

2 fatty acids
Phosphate group Small polar group Name of phospholipid based on polar group

Amphipathic
Hydrophilic polar group Hydrophobic fatty acid tails

Major components of cell membranes

Lipids in the Cell Membrane

Roles
Form boundary
Maintain differential compositions on either side of membrane

Influence activity of membrane proteins

Constitute important molecules in certain signaling pathways

Facilitate fusion and separation of membrane(s)

Amphipathic
Hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions

Self-assemble in aqueous environment

3 major types
1. Phosphoglycerides
2. Sphingolipids 3. Sterols

Sphingolipids and sterols not found in every membrane

Phosphoglycerides
Bulk of lipids in most membranes Most common phosphoglycerides
Phosphatidylcholine
Phosphatidylserine Phosphatidylethanolamine Phosphatidylinositol

Sphingolipids
Composed of
Sphingosine with long chain hydrocarbon

Fatty acyl chain

- Additional groups attached

Sterols
Subgroup of steroids with a OH group at the 3-position of the A-ring (steroid alcohols) Abundant in plasma membranes of animal cells Absent from plant cell membranes 4 flat, rigid rings

Interfere with movement of fatty acyl tails of other membrane lipids

Cholesterol

Membranes asymmetric with respect to lipid composition

Different amounts of each type of lipid in cytoplasmic and outer (exoplasmic) leaflets of bilayer

Different membranes have characteristic lipid composition

0 20 40 60 80 100

Myelin

Erythrocyte

Microsomes

Mitochondria

Phosphatidylcholine Phosphatidylethanolamine Phsophatidylserine Phosphatidylinositol Phosphatidylglycerol Sphingomylein Cholesterol Cardiolipin Other

Chloroplasts

Membrane Carbohydrates
Short, branched oligosaccharide chains covalently linked to membrane lipids and proteins

Found on external side of plasma membrane and certain organelles

Membrane Carbohydrates
Glycosylation addition of a sugar to either a protein or lipid (post-translational modifications)
N-glycosidic linkage - asparagine O-glycosidic linkage serine or threonine

Membrane Carbohydrates play a role in:

1. Mediating the interactions of a cell with its environment 2. Sorting membrane proteins to different cellular compartments 3. Unique signature blood type

Proteins
3 types

Integral
Embedded in lipid bilayer

Peripheral
Associated with surface by noncovalent bonds

Lipid-anchored
Covalently bonded to lipid embedded in bilayer

Integral Membrane Proteins

Transmembrane proteins Amphipathic
Hydrophilic regions on surface in contact with aqueous environment Composed mainly of amino acids with ionic and polar side chains

 Hydrophobic core in interior of membrane

Transmembrane domain
Usually large number of amino acids with nonpolar side chains

Can predict transmembrane segments from amino acid sequence

Hydropathy Plot

 Often hydrophobic helices

Can form aqueous channel through membrane Hydrophilic residues facing channel

Hydrophobic residues facing fatty acids

 Can assume -barrel configuration

Common in channel-forming proteins May be combination of structures

Peripheral Membrane Proteins

Easily detached from membrane noncovalent bonds
Attached to surface or slightly embedded into membrane layer

Often form part of protein complexes with integral membrane proteins

Often have a dynamic relationship with the membrane, recruited or released from membrane depending on conditions

Lipid-anchored Proteins
Located outside lipid bilayer Covalently linked to lipid molecule in bilayer

Glycophosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins (GPI-anchored proteins)

Attached to phosphatidylinositol by short oligosaccharide chain In external face of plasma membrane

Acylated proteins
Attached to long hydrocarbon chain on cytoplasmic face

Membranes are fluid-like liquid crystal

Allows for interactions to take place

Required for many cellular functions

Phospholipids
spin around move laterally in membrane rarely flip-flop

Maintaining fluidity critical for function

Transition temperature of phosphoglycerides
Temperature at which lipids change from liquid to gel Depends on length and degree of unsaturation in fatty acyl chains Kinks and bends that prevent regular packing

Results in lower transition temperature

Heat absorption

Gel

Temperature

Tm

Liquid Crystal

Must adjust fluidity for different environmental temperatures

1. Increase or decrease the number of double bonds in fatty acyl chains - saturases 2. Reshuffle chains to give different packing: phospholipases split the fatty acid from the glycerol backbone acyltransferases transfer the fatty acids to different phospholipid

Role of cholesterol
Prevents regular packing of fatty acyl chains Tends to abolish sharp transition temperature

Cholesterol concentrated in lipid rafts rather than evenly distributed

Patterns of movement by integral membrane proteins

D = restricted by association with other proteins E = random movement within restricted areabarrier to migration outside area A = random movement at rate based on size and viscosity of lipid bilayer

B = immobilized by attachment to cytoskeleton

C = highly directed or controlled movement

F = movement restrained by extracellular materials

Most membranes have membrane domains

Variation in types of proteins Differences in protein mobility

Functional polarity in cell surface

Next Lecture
Membrane Transport
Ch. 4, pgs 143-166

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqsf_UJcfBc