(©) Carbohydrates : Many membrane proteins are glycosylated, having one or more covalently attached polysaccharides chains. The carbohydrate coat is called the "glycocalyx". These chains may contain the mono- saccharides D-galactose, D-mannose, L-fucose and the derivatives like N- acetylglucosamine and N-acetyl-neuraminic acid. They are attached to the proteins either by an N-glycosidic linkage from N-acetylglucosamine to asparagine or by an Q-glycosidic linkage from N-acetyl galactosamine to serine or threonine. The amino acid sequences around the carbohydrate attachment sites of different proteins are often similar, presumably because they have to be recognized by glycosylation of enzymes. The carbohydrate chains of may glycoproteins show structural variation from one molecule to another, a phenomenon known as “micro heterogeneity”, Electron micrographs of membranes of varios origin are remarkably similar and show that the membrane consists of two dark banks each of 20A° thickness separated from a light band of about 35A° as its thickness. The dark bands are composed of proteins; On the other hand, the light band is composed of phospholipids and cholesterol. The phospholipid molecules in the light band are arranged in two rows in a way that the phosphate containing ends, known as polar or hydrophilic ends point to the outside while the non-polar or hydrophobic chains point to the inside (Fig. 1.2) Lipid bilayers are oriented with their hydrophobic tails inside the bilayer while hydrophilic ‘polar’ heads are in contact with the aqueous solution on each side. Not all lipids can form bilayers. A lipid bilayer can 42 Scanned with CamScanner