Lecture 5:

Cell Membrane

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Cell Membranes

 The plasma membrane is the boundary that separates the living cell
from its surroundings
 The plasma membrane exhibits selective permeability, allowing
some substances to cross it more easily than others
 Transport proteins are often responsible for controlling passage
across cellular membranes

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Cellular membranes are fluid mosaics of lipids and
proteins
 Phospholipids are the most abundant lipid in the plasma
membrane
 Phospholipids are containing hydrophobic (“water-fearing”)
and hydrophilic (“water-loving”) regions
 The hydrophobic tails of the phospholipids are sheltered
inside the membrane, while the hydrophilic heads are
exposed to water on either side

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Fluid Mosaic Model

 In the fluid mosaic model, the membrane is a

mosaic of protein molecules bobbing in a fluid
bilayer of phospholipids
 Proteins are not randomly distributed in the
membrane

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The Fluidity of Membranes

 Membranes are held together mainly by weak

hydrophobic interactions
 Most of the lipids and some proteins can move
sideways within the membrane
 Rarely, a lipid may flip-flop across the membrane,
from one phospholipid layer to the other

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The Fluidity of Membranes

 As temperatures cool, membranes switch from a fluid state to

a solid state
 The temperature at which a membrane solidifies depends on
the types of lipids
 Membranes rich in unsaturated fatty acids are more fluid than
those rich in saturated fatty acids
 Membranes must be fluid to work properly

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The Fluidity of Membranes

 The steroid cholesterol has different effects on the membrane

fluidity of animal cells at different temperatures
 At warm temperatures (such as 37ºC), cholesterol restrains
movement of phospholipids
 At cool temperatures, it maintains fluidity by preventing tight
packing

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Membrane Proteins and Their Functions

 A membrane is a collage of different proteins, often clustered

in groups, embedded in the fluid matrix of the lipid bilayer
 Phospholipids form the main fabric of the membrane
 Proteins determine most of the membrane’s functions

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Membrane Proteins and Their Functions

 Peripheral proteins are bound to the surface of the

membrane
 Integral proteins penetrate the hydrophobic core
 Integral proteins that span the membrane are called
transmembrane proteins

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Membrane Proteins and Their Functions

 Cell-surface membranes can carry out several functions:

- Transport
- Enzymatic activity
- Signal transduction
- Cell-cell recognition
- Intercellular joining
- Attachment to the cytoskeleton and extracellular matrix (ECM)

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Membrane Proteins and Their Functions

 Cell-surface proteins are important in the medical field

 For example, HIV must bind to the immune cells surface
protein CD4 and a “co-receptor” CCR5 in order to infect a cell
 HIV cannot enter the cells of resistant individuals who lack
CCR5
 Drugs are now being developed to mask the CCR5 protein

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The Role of Membrane Carbohydrates in Cell-
Cell Recognition
 Cells recognize each other by binding to molecules, often
containing carbohydrates, on the extracellular surface of the
plasma membrane
 Membrane carbohydrates may be covalently bonded to lipids
(forming glycolipids) or, more commonly, to proteins (forming
glycoproteins)
 Carbohydrates on the extracellular side of the plasma
membrane vary among species, individuals, and even cell
types in an individual

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Synthesis and Sidedness of Membranes

 Membranes have distinct inside and outside faces

 The asymmetrical distribution of proteins, lipids, and
associated carbohydrates in the plasma membrane is
determined when the membrane is built by the ER and Golgi
apparatus

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Membrane structure results in selective
permeability
 A cell must exchange materials with its surroundings, a
process controlled by the plasma membrane
 Plasma membranes are selectively permeable, regulating the
cell’s molecular traffic

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The Permeability of the Lipid Bilayer

 Hydrophobic (nonpolar) molecules, such as hydrocarbons,

can dissolve in the lipid bilayer and pass through the
membrane rapidly
 Hydrophilic molecules including ions and polar molecules do
not cross the membrane easily
 Proteins built into the membrane play key roles in regulating
transport

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Transport Proteins

 Transport proteins allow passage of hydrophilic substances

across the membrane
 Some transport proteins, called channel proteins, have a
hydrophilic channel that certain molecules or ions can use as
a tunnel
 Channel proteins called aquaporins greatly facilitate the
passage of water molecules
 Other transport proteins, called carrier proteins, bind to
molecules and change shape to shuttle them across the
membrane
 A transport protein is specific for the substance it moves

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Passive transport is diffusion of a substance across a
membrane with no energy investment

 Diffusion is the tendency for molecules to spread out evenly

into the available space
 Although each molecule moves randomly, diffusion of a
population of molecules may be directional
 At dynamic equilibrium, as many molecules cross the
membrane in one direction as in the other

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 Substances diffuse down their concentration gradient, the
region along which the density of a chemical substance
increases or decreases
 No work must be done to move substances down the
concentration gradient
 The diffusion of a substance across a biological membrane is
passive transport because no energy is expended by the
cell to make it happen

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Effects of Osmosis on Water Balance

 Osmosis is the diffusion of water across a selectively

permeable membrane
 Water diffuses across a membrane from the region of lower
solute concentration to the region of higher solute
concentration until the solute concentration is equal on both
sides

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Water Balance of Cells Without Cell Walls

 Tonicity is the ability of a surrounding solution to cause a cell

to gain or lose water
 The tonicity of a solution depends on its concentration of
solutes that cannot cross the membrane relative to that inside
the cell

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Water Balance of Cells Without Cell Walls

 Isotonic solution: Solute concentration is the same as that

inside the cell; no net water movement across the plasma
membrane
 Hypertonic solution: Solute concentration is greater than
that inside the cell; cell loses water
 Hypotonic solution: Solute concentration is less than that
inside the cell; cell gains water
 Cells without cell walls will shrivel in hypertonic solution and
lyse (burst) in a hypotonic solution

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Facilitated Diffusion: Passive Transport Aided by
Proteins
 In facilitated diffusion, transport proteins speed the passive
movement of molecules across the plasma membrane
 Transport proteins include channel proteins and carrier
proteins

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 Channel proteins allow a specific molecule or ion to cross the
membrane
 Aquaporins facilitate the diffusion of water
 Ion channels facilitate the transport of ions
 Some ion channels, called gated channels, open or close in
response to a stimulus
 For example, in nerve cells, ion channels open in response to electrical
stimulus

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 Carrier proteins undergo a subtle change in shape that
translocates the solute-binding site across the membrane
 This change in shape can be triggered by the binding and
release of the transported molecule

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Active transport uses energy to move solutes
against their gradients
 Facilitated diffusion is still passive because the solute moves
down its concentration gradient, and the transport requires no
energy
 Some transport proteins, however, can move solutes against
their concentration gradients

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The Need for Energy in Active Transport

 Active transport requires energy, usually in the form of ATP

hydrolysis, to move substances against their concentration
gradients
 All proteins involved in active transport are carrier proteins

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The Need for Energy in Active Transport

 Active transport allows cells to maintain concentration

gradients that differ from their surroundings
 For example, an animal cell has a much higher potassium
(K+) and a much lower sodium (Na+) concentration compared
to its surroundings
 This is controlled by the sodium-potassium pump, a
transport protein that is energized by transfer of a phosphate
group from the hydrolysis of ATP

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How Ion Pumps Maintain Membrane Potential

 Membrane potential is the voltage across a membrane

 Voltage is created by differences in the distribution of positive
and negative ions across a membrane
 The cytoplasmic side of the membrane is negative in charge
relative to the extracellular side

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 Two combined forces, collectively called the electrochemical
gradient, drive the diffusion of ions across a membrane

- A chemical force (the ion’s concentration gradient)

- An electrical force (the effect of the membrane potential
on the ion’s movement)

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 An electrogenic pump is a transport protein that generates
voltage across a membrane
 The sodium-potassium pump is the major electrogenic pump
of animal cells
 The main electrogenic pump of plants, fungi, and bacteria is a
proton pump, which actively transports hydrogen ions (H+)
out of the cell
 Electrogenic pumps help store energy that can be used for
cellular work

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Cotransport: Coupled Transport by a Membrane
Protein
 Cotransport occurs when active transport of a solute
indirectly drives transport of other substances
 The diffusion of an actively transported solute down its
concentration gradient is coupled with the transport of a
second substance against its own concentration gradient

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Bulk transport across the plasma membrane
occurs by exocytosis and endocytosis
 Small molecules and water enter or leave the cell through the
lipid bilayer or via transport proteins
 Large molecules, such as polysaccharides and proteins,
cross the membrane in bulk via vesicles
 Bulk transport requires energy

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Exocytosis

 In exocytosis, transport vesicles migrate to the membrane,

fuse with it, and release their contents outside the cell
 Many secretory cells use exocytosis to export their products

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Endocytosis

 In endocytosis, the cell takes in macromolecules by forming

vesicles from the plasma membrane
 Endocytosis is a reversal of exocytosis, involving different
proteins
 There are three types of endocytosis
- Phagocytosis (“cellular eating”)
- Pinocytosis (“cellular drinking”)
- Receptor-mediated endocytosis

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 In phagocytosis, a cell engulfs a particle
in a vacuole
 The vacuole fuses with a lysosome to
digest the particle

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 In pinocytosis, molecules dissolved in
droplets are taken up when extracellular
fluid is “gulped” into tiny vesicles

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 In receptor-mediated endocytosis,
binding of specific solutes to
receptors triggers vesicle formation
 Receptor proteins, receptors, and
other molecules from the
extracellular fluid are transported in
the vesicles
 Emptied receptors are recycled to
the plasma membrane

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