LESSON 4 - Cell Membrane and Cell Transport - Membrane components are mainly

bounded through hydrophobic interaction

Cell Membrane - Phospholipids move at around 2μm/s
- Composed of Lipids and Proteins (ECM) - Proteins move slower than phospholipids
Phospholipids – most abundant - Some proteins move in a highly directed manner.
- Amphipathic molecule Either along the cytoskeleton or the Extracellular
Matrix

Extracellular Matrix (ECM) – a collection of non-

cellular three- dimensional macromolecular network
outside the cell(protein)
• Steroid Cholesterol – maintains the stability of the cell
membrane at various temperature

Cholesterol – embedded in the phospholipid

bilayer. Helps maintain its fluidity at certain conditions.

Extra Cellular Matrix – made up of various

protein filaments such as collagen, elastin and
fibronectin which gives structure and support to the cell.

Cell Membrane: Membrane Proteins

a. Integral Protein
- Proteins that penetrate the hydrophobic
interior of the cell membrane.
Transmembrane protein - spans the entire cell
membrane
1. a-helix
Fluid Mosaic Model – Current accepted model
- most common protein structure
of the Cell membrane
element that crosses biological
membranes (transmembrane protein)
- it is presumed because the helical
structure can satisfy all backbone
hydrogen-bonds internally, leaving no
polar groups exposed to the membrane if
the sidechains are hydrophobic.
2. helical bundle
- usually in 4 helix bundle, adjacent
helices are antiparallel, such as in
Cytochrome b.
Cell Membrane: Fluidity 3. B-barrel
 - function as transporters for ions and
small molecules that cannot diffuse
across a cellular membrane
b. Peripheral Protein
- Not embedded in the cell membrane
Cell Membrane: Functions
1. Intercellular Joining - Proteins on adjacent
cells hook together, briefly, for cell
interaction/sharing.
a. Plasmodesmata
- perforations in the cell wall of plant cells
- acts as channel that connects cell and where water, small
solutes, sometimes RNA and proteins can pass freely from cell
to cell
-- In Animal cells
a. Tight Junctions
- prevents leakage of extracellular fluid (fluid outside of the
cell) across a particular cell layer reason why our skin is
watertight
b. Desmosomes (anchoring junctions)
- that are connected to the cytoplasm through the help of
intermediate filaments
-Fastens cells together into a strong sheet
-Sometimes, rupture of desmosomes can cause muscle tear.
c. Gap junctions (communicating junctions)
- that are pores surrounded by membrane proteins
-more like the plasmodesmata in plant cells
-where ions, sugars and other small molecules can pass
from one cell to another
2. Enzymatic Activity
3. Transport(Active/Passive) – movement of
materials across cell membranes.
Transport proteins -Transport proteins allow passage of
hydrophilic substances across the membrane. A transport
protein is specific for the substance it moves.
a. Channel proteins
- They have a hydrophilic channel that certain molecules or
ions can use as a tunnel Examples:
1. Aquaporins, for facilitated diffusion of water
between cells
2. Ion channels that open or close in response to a
stimulus (gated channels).
b. Carrier proteins
- They bind to molecules and change shape to shuttle them
across the membrane.
e.g. GLUT1 (glucose transporter 1) facilitates the transport of
glucose across the plasma membranes of mammalian cells
4. Cell-cell recognition - Cell–cell
recognition occurs when two molecules restricted to
the plasma membranes of different cells bind to
each other, triggering a response for
communication, cooperation, transport, defense,
and/or growth.
Function of membrane carbohydrates
-Carbohydrates usually short branched chains made up of 15
sugar units(oligosaccharides) can covalently bind to proteins
(glycoprotein) or lipids (glycolipids)
-These carbohydrates are important for cell-to-cell
recognition (or simply that one cell can recognize that
another cell is part of that body and not a foreign body)
5.Anchorage/ Attachment - Most integral proteins
contain residues with hydrophobic side chains that
interact with fatty acyl groups of the membrane
phospholipids, thus anchoring the protein to the
membrane.
6. Signal Transduction - is the process by which a
chemical or physical signal is transmitted through a
cell as a series of molecular events, most commonly
protein phosphorylation catalyzed by protein
kinases, which ultimately results in a cellular
response
Extracellular receptor
- are integral transmembrane proteins and make up most
receptors. They span the plasma membrane of the cell, with
one part of the receptor on the outside of the cell and the
other on the inside.
- Signal transduction occurs as a result of a ligand binding to
the outside region of the receptor (the ligand does not pass
through the membrane)
Turgor – the state of turgidity and resulting
rigidity of cells, normally due to the absorption of
fluid.
Osmotic Pressure – the pressure that should
be applied to a solvent to prevent it from passing
into a given solution by osmosis - Water will stop
diffusing unto a cell if its osmotic pressure is high
Effects of Osmosis in Life

-Tonicity - Relative concentration of solutes

dissolved in a solvent and determines the direction
of diffusion
Hypotonic - The solution has a lower solute
Cellular Transport
concentration than an another solution or the cell (in
- Movement of material/substances either inside or
biology)
outside the cell
Isotonic - The solute concentration of both
solutions (or a solution and a cell) is equal
A. Passive
Hypertonic - The solution has a higher
- Movement of molecules/substances without the
solute concentration than the cell (or another
use of energy
solution)
- Types of Passive transport
1. Diffusion
- The movement of molecules in response to a
concentration gradient
- From high concentration to low concentration
- Continues until all molecules are evenly
Tonicity Animal Cell Plant Cell
distributed
Hypertonic Crenation Plasmolysis
Factors Affecting Diffusion
• Size the substance
- Smaller molecules travel faster because it
takes less energy to move
• Temperature
- Molecules move faster at high temperature
due to the amount of energy it has. Isotonic Normal Flaccid
• Concentration Gradient
- The steeper the concentration gradient, the
faster the diffusion of molecules
• Charge
- A difference in the charge can affect the
rate of diffusion. Positive molecules will travel into
a negatively charged area than negative molecules.
• Pressure Hypotonic Cytolysis Turgor
- Molecules that are more crowded collide Pressure
and rebound more frequently, creating a higher rate
of diffusion

Osmosis
- Net movement of solvent molecules across a semi-
permeable membrane.
- In cells, it normally refers to the movement of
water across the plasma membrane 2. Facilitated Diffusion
- Like diffusion, it is the movement of molecules
according to the concentration gradient
- Uses transmembrane proteins when moving across
the phospholipid bilayer
- Two types of transport proteins used in Facilitated
Diffusion
Protein channels - protein that allows the
transport of a substance across the membrane
➢Examples: Aquaporin – a channel used
by water to passively pass through the phospholipid
bilayer
Carrier protein - gated transmembrane
channels. Transport proteins by conformationally
changing (changes its shape) when a substance is
present
➢Example: Glucose Transporter 1
(GLUT1)
B. Active Transport
- A type of transport that uses energy (normally in
the form of ATP) to move molecules across the cell
membrane
- Against the concentration gradient
- From lower concentration to a higher
concentration
- Three types:
• Uniporter
• Symporter
• Antiporter
Sodium-Potassium pump
- Na+/K+-ATPase
- It is a pump that transport sodium out of the cell
then move potassium into the cells
- This generates an electrochemical gradient across
the membrane. Thus, it is an example of an
electrogenic pump
• Electrogenic pump – generates voltage
(electrochemical gradient) across the membrane
C. Bulk Transport
- Small molecules can either diffuse across the
plasma membrane or use transport proteins to
enable them to pass through
- Large molecules, such as proteins and
polysaccharides, cannot pass through these
transport proteins
- Materials are transported into or out of the cell via
the use of vesicles
- Two Types: • Exocytosis and Endocytosis
a. Exocytosis
- It is a process in which substances from the cells
are released into the environment
- Can either be for excretion or secretion
Excretion – process of eliminating or
expelling waste
Secretion – process in which functional
substances that are produced by the cell are
expelled.
Bulk Transport: Exocytosis
b. Endocytosis
- It is the process in which cells takes up substances
from its environment, forming a vesicle in the
process
- Two major types: • Pinocytosis & Phagocytosis
Pinocytosis - Known as the “cell drinking”.
The process in which cells ingest liquids from its
environment - First, the fluids are bounded into the
plasma membrane. Then, the said membrane
invaginates around the fluid, ultimately forming a
vesicle
Phagocytosis - Known as the “cell eating”.
The process in which cells engulf large molecules,
or even other cells. Either used for eating
(unicellular cells like amoeba), or as a defense
mechanism (macrophages)
Endocytosis: Endosymbiotic theory
• explains why the mitochondria and the
chloroplasts have their own DNA
• explains how prokaryotes evolved into
eukaryotes.
• Suggests that these organelles are ancient
bacteria phagocytized by the cell. Instead of
digesting it, both cells created a symbiotic
relationship with each other