Chapter 7.2, Problem 6MI

Summary Introduction

To model:

A phospholipid and label its parts.

Introduction:

Phospholipids belongs to the lipid group of natural polymers.

Explanation of Solution

Labelled diagram of phospholipid:

  

Function:

Phospholipids form a lipid bilayer in which their hydrophilic head zones precipitously organize to confront the watery cytosol and the extracellular liquid, while their hydrophobic tail zones face away from the cytosol and extracellular liquid.

The lipid bilayer is semi-porous, permitting just certain molecules to diffuse over the layer to enter or leave the cell.

Huge natural particles, for example, nucleic acids, sugars, and proteins cannot diffuse over the lipid bilayer. Huge particles are specifically allowed entrance into a cell through transmembrane proteins that cross the lipid bilayer.