PROBLEM SET

LIPIDS/STEROIDS/MEMBRANE
1. In lab you are required to isolate and identify a fatty acid from animal or plant tissue. You
suspect one of your lab mates has not properly isolated a lipid, but has fudged their data by
buying a fatty acid and performing characterization. Their data indicates a fatty acid with a
structure of: CH3-CH2-CH=CH-CH=CH-CH=CH-COOH. Do you think lab mate has really
isolated a natural lipid?
2. A fatty acid is designated as having the structure 18:2 9,12. What does this mean?
3. Your ancestors stayed clean by boiling animal fat with wood ash containing lye. What is this
reaction? Write out the general equation
4. Draw the structure of 1-palmitoyl-2-arachidonoyl-phosphatidylserine and the products
formed when this lipid is hydrolyzed by: (A) phospholipase A1, (B) phospholipiase A2, (C)
phospholipase C and (D) phospholipase D.
5. Why can glycerophospholipids form membranes, while triacylglycerols cannot?
6. What important molecules are derived from cholesterol?
7. Why are eicosanoids of such great medical interest? Describe their structure and function.
8. What are COX (cyclooxygenase) inhibitors? Provide examples. What are potential side
effects of COX inhibitors?
9. What are some of the functions performed by membranes?
10. What structural characteristics are critical for membrane lipids that form bilayers?
11. What are the types of protein found in the membrane? How do they differ from one another?
12. What is the fluid mosaic model of membrane structure?
13. While examining the sequence of a protein, you identify a sequence that is known to traverse
a membrane. However, you observe both hydrophobic and hydrophilic and polar residues in
the region. How is this possible?
14. How can cholesterol maintain membrane fluidity?
15. What are the types of transport across the membrane?
16. Suggest a reason why animals that live in cold climates tend to have higher proportion of
unsaturated fatty acid residues in their lipids than animals that live in warm climates.
17. Why can some vitamin K antigonists acts as anticoagulant?
18. Give a reason for the toxicity than can be caused by overdoses of lipid-soluble viatmins?
19. Why does the American Heart Association recommend the use of canola oil or olive oil
rather than coconut oil in cooking?
20. Suggest a reason why inorganic ions, such K+, Na+, Ca2+ and Mg2+, do not cross
biological membranes by simple diffusion.