H2 Biology: Cell Membrane Notes
H2 Biology: Cell Membrane Notes
H2 Biology: Cell Membrane Notes
Membrane Carbohydrates:
● Membrane carbohydrates: branched oligosaccharides attached to proteins/lipids
= Glycoproteins/Glycolipids
● The diversity of the glycoprotein molecules enable membrane carbohydrates to function
as markers that distinguish one cell from another (cell-cell recognition) (e.g. 4 human
blood types that reflect the variation in the carbohydrates on the surface of red blood
cells)
● Roles of carbohydrates in cell membrane:
○ Allow cell-cell recognition: Ability of a cell to determine if other cells it
encounters are alike/different
H2 Biology: Cell Membrane
○ Cell-cell adhesion: The carbohydrate components of two adjacent cells may bind
with each other
= adhesion between cells
Functions Of Membranes:
Functions Of Cell Surface Membrane:
1. Acts as a boundary between the intracellular and extracellular environment:
a. Allows for the maintenance of a constant internal environment = essential for a
cell to function efficiently
2. Cell-Cell Recognition:
a. Allows cells of the same type to identify + adhere to one another during tissue
formation + interactions
b. Provides basis of the rejection of foreign cells in the immune cells, have also
given rise to problems: organ rejection + blood incompatibility
3. Site For Multi-Enzyme Complexes:
a. Allows common biochemical pathways to proceed more efficiently
4. Selective Transport Of Material:
a. Allows for the regulation of substances
5. Signal Reception:
a. Interaction between glycoprotein receptors + specific molecules which
correspond to external stimuli
= generation signal cascade which stimulates/inhibits internal activities of a cell
(Signal Transduction)
Expenditure of energy from the hydrolysis of ATP is not Expenditure of energy from the hydrolysis of ATP is
required for the carrier protein to operate required for the carrier protein to operate
Carrier proteins can bind with the substances that they Carrier proteins can bind with the substances that they
transport on both sides of the membrane transport on only one side of the membrane
c. Bulk (Vesicular) Transport: Transport of material (in bulk) into/out of the cell by
enclosure within a vesicle
i. Endocytosis: Cell takes in biological molecules + particulate matter by
forming new vesicles from the plasma membrane
● Phagocytosis: Ingestion of selective large solid particles (cellular
eating)
1. Particles to be engulfed come into contact with the cell surface, the cell membrane
invaginates to form a flask-like depression around the particles/the cell membrane
extends outwards, forming extensions (Pseudopodia) around the particles
H2 Biology: Cell Membrane
2. The neck of the flask closes + seals off the invagination = forms separate phagocytic
vesicle that now envelopes the particle that had been previously outside the cell
3. A lysosome will then fuse with the phagocytic vesicle + discharge its hydrolytic enzymes
to hydrolyze the particles
4. Useful products of digestion are absorbed into the cytoplasm
5. Vesicles containing the undigested remains move to the plasma membrane and the
content of these vesicles is voided by exocytosis
2. When binding occurs: clathrin-coated pits invaginate + form coated vesicles around the
bound ligands. Strengthened + stabilized by the clathrin molecules this vesicle carries
the macromolecules into the cell
3. Once inside, the vesicle loses its clathrin coat + may fuse with a lysosome, where the
engulfed material is processed + released into the cytoplasm
4. After the ingested material is liberated from the vesicle, the glycoprotein receptors are
recycled back to the plasma membrane by the same vesicle
ii. Exocytosis: The process which the cell releases certain biological
molecules by the fusion of vesicles with the plasma membrane
1. A transport vesicle that has budded
from the Golgi apparatus moves along
microtubules of the cytoskeleton to the
plasma membrane.
2. When the vesicle membrane and the
plasma membrane come into contact,
the lipid molecules of the 2 bilayers
rearrange themselves so that the two
membranes fuse
= the contents of the vesicle then spill
to the outside of the cell + vesicle
membrane becomes part of the plasma
membrane