Word of the day…

aspersion (noun): a damaging or derogatory remark; the

act of slander; vilification, defamation.

 Pick up a half-sheet from the front of the class.

 Get your clickers ready.
Lipids and Membranes
Learning Objectives
 Explain the amphipathic nature of phospholipids.
 Predict which non-covalent interactions will likely form
when phospholipids are mixed with water.
 Predict which structures that will form when different kinds
of lipids are mixed with water and provide a rationale.
 Discuss spontaneous assembly of phospholipid bilayers
using the language of thermodynamic system stability,
including the role of enthalpy and entropy in driving the
process (reaction) to occur.
 Relate the general properties of membranes to the
properties of membrane phospholipids.
 Describe the Fluid Mosaic model of the biological
membrane structure.
Lipids and Membranes

Have a container Lipids, proteins,

and carbohydrates
Gather raw materials
Gather or make parts Proteins
Gather and transform energy

Have a set of instructions DNA

Pass instructions to replicas Proteins and DNA

Mechanism to read the instructions Proteins and RNA

Cell Membranes
 Cell membranes form due to the hydrophobic
effect.
 However, there is much more to them than just a
phospholipid bilayer.
 The cell membrane acts as a semi-permeable
barrier, allowing some molecules across and
preventing others from crossing.
 Extra Post-class Notes
 In general, as molecules get larger or more polar
(i.e. gain larger partial changes), they will move
more slowly through a membrane via simple
diffusion.
 Most of these types of molecules require some
form of a transport protein to cross a cell
membrane.

Copyright © 2018, Jared L. Taylor

What would be the order of molecules
shown to the right in terms of
permeability across a phospholipid
bilayer?

List from the slowest molecule on the

left to the “fastest” molecule on the
right.

A. 3<1<4<2
B. 1<2<4<3
C. 2<1<3<4
D. 4<1<2<3
E. 1<4<3<2
What would be the order of molecules
shown to the right in terms of
permeability across a phospholipid
bilayer?

List from the slowest molecule on the

left to the “fastest” molecule on the
right.

A. 3<1<4<2
B. 1<2<4<3
C. 2<1<3<4
D. 4<1<2<3
E. 1<4<3<2
Extra Post-class Notes
 Some relative rates of membrane permeability
(these have to be experimentally determined).
Note that the numbers in brackets indicate the
molecular weights.

None very slow (essentially zero) slow fast very fast

Cl- (36)
H2O (18)
Na+(23) Glycerol (92)
PO4-3 (95) Glucose (180) Toluene (92)
ATP

Large molecules: proteins, DNA, RNA

 Half-sheet question…
 Some ions are very small (like Na+), and yet they
don’t cross a lipid bilayer. Why? Discuss and write
an possible explanation on your half-sheet.

Copyright © 2018, Jared L. Taylor

Ions have hydration shells…
 This makes them act like they are much larger than
they ionic size.
 Extra Post-class Notes
 Ions are blocked from crossing membranes by
simply diffusion both by a very unfavourable loss of
strong interactions and because they are dragging a
huge number of water molecules along with them.
 The fact that ions have a really hard time crossing a
membrane is critical for many biological functions
such as transport, energy production, nerve cell
function, and so on.

Copyright © 2018, Jared L. Taylor

 Fluid Mosaic Model
 Cell membranes are not just phospholipids.
 Membranes contain a huge number of other
components such as proteins and sterols (like
cholesterol. These components can move freely in a
lateral fashion (along the plane of the membrane).
 Essentially, the membrane acts like a 2-D liquid in
which all components can float past each other
freely.

Copyright © 2018, Jared L. Taylor

Fluid Mosaic Model
Membrane Transport
Membrane Transport
Learning Objectives
 Predict the permeability of various types of molecules
across lipid bilayers based on size and charge.
 Discuss selective permeability of biological membranes and
structural features that contribute to the selective
permeability.
 (Self Study) Distinguish between the process of diffusion
and osmosis.
 (Self Study) List some strategies that cells use to deal with
the consequences of osmotic pressure build up as a result of
the selective permeability of membranes.
 Compare and contrast the transport proteins, carriers
versus channels.
Membrane Transport
Learning Objectives
 Distinguish between the different types of membrane
transports (simple diffusion, facilitated diffusion and active
transport) in terms of concentration dependence, protein
transporters, and energy requirements.
 Plot a transport graph comparing the concentration ratios of
molecules across membranes over a period of time.
 Predict the type of transport occurring based on the
transport graph data.
 Transport across cell membranes
 Cells need to get lots of things in and out across the
cell membrane.
 Sometimes simple diffusion works, other times it
doesn’t.
 When it doesn’t, cells require transporter proteins
to help out.

Copyright © 2018, Jared L. Taylor

Simple Diffusion
 If a molecule can diffuse directly across the
membrane by itself, we say that it is moving via
simple diffusion.
 Net movement is always with the concentration
gradient (i.e. moving from high to low).
 Facilitated Diffusion
 If an ion or molecule cannot diffuse directly across
a membrane but requires a transport protein to
allow it to pass and energy is not expended by the
cell, we say that it is moving via facilitated
diffusion.
 Net movement is always with the concentration
gradient (i.e. moving from high to low).

Copyright © 2018, Jared L. Taylor

Passive Transport (Diffusion)
 Extra Post-class Notes
 Two types of facilitated transport proteins:
channels and carriers.
 Channel proteins simply make a hole through the
membrane and allow ions or molecules through.
• The type of molecules that pass through can be
controlled by the chemical properties of the walls of the
“tunnel” through the protein.
• These proteins acts as gates and can usually be opened
and closed as needed.

Copyright © 2018, Jared L. Taylor

 Extra Post-class Notes
 Carrier proteins physically pick up a molecule on
one side of the membrane and pull it through.
• This involves a change in the protein shape (a
conformation change) in order to move the molecule
through.
• Note that the molecule can move in either direction,
with movement of high to low concentration being
favoured (i.e. at equal concentrations, the carrier will
move the molecules equally in either direction).

Copyright © 2018, Jared L. Taylor

 For practice… Which molecules/ions shown
will require/use this process
Outside cross the membrane?
cell
Osmosis

Simple
diffusion
Facilitated
diffusion

Which molecules/ions shown

will move in this direction?
Outside cell
Inside cell
Inside cell
protein channel - allows ions to flow
freely through it No net
movement
 For practice… Which molecules/ions shown
will require/use this process
Outside cross the membrane?
cell
Osmosis Water

Simple
CO2
diffusion
Facilitated
Na+, K+, Cl-
diffusion

Which molecules/ions shown

will move in this direction?
Outside cell Cl-
Inside cell
Inside cell Na+, K+, CO2, water
protein channel - allows ions to flow
freely through it No net All molecules shown here are
movement have an overall net movement
 Primary Active Transport
 If an ion or molecule cannot diffuse directly across
a AND energy is expended by the cell to move
across the membrane via a transport protein, we
say that is moving via primary active transport.
 Net movement can be either with (high to low) or
against (low to high), but usually it is against the
concentration gradient in cells.
 The defining characteristic is that energy is used,
not the direction relative to the gradient.
 The energy is supplied by the molecule ATP.

Copyright © 2018, Jared L. Taylor

Active Transport (Primary)
 Extra Post-class Notes
 The sodium-potassium pump shown on the
previous slide is the classic example of active
transport.
 The next two slides walk through the active
transport process of this pump.

Copyright © 2018, Jared L. Taylor

Extra Post-class Notes
1) The sodium-potassium pump
starts in an “open
conformation” towards the
inside of the cell.
2) 3 × Na+ bind to the protein.
3) ATP is broken down into ADP
and a phosphate. This
provides the energy needed
for the protein to change
shape. This means that ATP is
the primary energy source for
this transport!
4) The change in shape releases
the Na+ ions on the outside of
the cell.
Extra Post-class Notes
5) The sodium-potassium pump
starts in now open towards the
outside of the cell.
6) 2 × K+ bind to the protein.
7) Binding of the K+ ions causes a
conformational shape change
in the protein. Note that the
energy being used is still what
was originally provided by the
ATP molecule.
8) The change in shape releases
the K+ ions on the inside of the
cell.
 Secondary Active Transport
 Secondary active transport is a bit more
complicated, and involves two transport proteins.
 First, an primary active transport protein is used to
produce a electrochemical gradient of an ion.
 Next, a second transport protein uses the energy
from that gradient to drive the transport of a
second ion or molecule.
 This is much easier to see and explain using a
diagram…

Copyright © 2018, Jared L. Taylor

 Extra Post-class Notes
 An electrochemical gradient is an even stronger
type of gradient because is uses both a differential
in concentration AND a differential in charge build.
 In other words, those ions REALLY want to move
back across the membrane to even out both
concentration and charge (lots of potential energy
builds up in an electrochemical gradient).

This is an example of free energy being released during

diffusion and harnessed by cells to do work. You will other
examples of this later on in the course.

Copyright © 2018, Jared L. Taylor

Active Transport (Secondary)
Extra Post-class Notes
 The first step in a secondary
active transport system uses
a primary active transporter
to move an ion across the
membrane.
 This step uses ATP as the
primary energy source.
Extra Post-class Notes
 This sets up a very strong
electrochemical gradient.
 This gradient has a lot of
potential energy stored
within it.
 Recall that energy is required
to concentrate something on
one side of a membrane, and
in this case both atoms and
their charges.
Extra Post-class Notes
 The second step allows the
ions to flow back across the
membrane to even out both
concentration and charge. As
we already discussed, this
releases energy.
 The released energy is used
to drive the movement of the
second molecule at the same
time (depending on the
protein, this can be in the
same or opposite direction to
the ion).
Extra Post-class Notes
 This means that in the
second step, it is the ion
gradient that is providing the
energy.
 Thus, ATP is used as energy
to create an electrochemical
gradient with lots of potential
energy, and then the gradient
is used to drive the
secondary transport of a
target molecule.
 Transport Summary
Movement across a membrane

Passive Transport Active Transport

(diffusion-based)
 Transport with a concentration
gradient (high to low).
 Does not require an input of
energy.
 Can transport against a
concentration gradient (low
to high).
 Requires input of energy.

primary active secondary active

simple diffusion facilitated diffusion transport transport (uses
(requires a protein) (directly uses energy from
ATP for energy) another gradient)
 Analysing Transport
 An important skill (and one you have to do in this
class) is to analyse diffusion data and identify what
type of transport is being used.
 We will use an activity worksheet next day to walk
through this, but first we need to explain one
explore something...

Copyright © 2018, Jared L. Taylor

 Half-sheet question…
 Suppose you have a cell, and you want to measure
the movement of molecule X across the
membrane...
 You can measure the concentration of X outside the
cell, and separately measure the concentration of X
inside the cell.
 How could graph the data using only a single
parameter (i.e. You can only use a single line) over
time to show change in concentration of X and
direction of movement?

Copyright © 2018, Jared L. Taylor

 Concentration Ratio
 When thinking about and looking at transport
(diffusion) data, we look at the concentration of
molecules on both sides of the membrane and
compare them.
 The easiest way to do this is via a ratio.
 For the purposes of this class we will always define
this ratio as [inside]/[outside] although the other
direction is valid as well as long as you keep it all
the same.

Copyright © 2018, Jared L. Taylor

 Concentration Ratio

molecule inside
concentration ratio =
molecule outside

inside of cell

outside of cell

Copyright © 2018, Jared L. Taylor