Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
has perhaps the least biochemical functions of any mammalian membrane (it provides insu-
lation for nerves), while the mitochondrial inner membrane has many functions including
a major connected pathway (electron transport and associated oxidative phosphorylation).
The plasma membrane falls in between the two extremes. The many types of membrane
lipids and proteins are discussed in Chapters 5 and 6, respectively.
SUMMARY
Understanding membrane structure and function is one of the major unsolved problems
in life science. Membranes are intimately involved in almost all biological processes
including; establishing and maintaining trans-membrane gradients; compartmentalizing
biochemical reactions into distinct functional domains; controlling transport into and out
of cells; inter- and intra-cellular communication; cell-cell recognition; and energy transduc-
tion events. What makes biological membranes so difficult to study is their small size
(
10 nm in width) and compositional complexity, being composed of hundreds of proteins,
thousands of lipids and numerous surface carbohydrates, all in constant flux. A microscopic
liver cell is so packed with internal membranes that the total membrane surface area of
a single cell is ~840 acres, the size of New York's Central Park. Remarkably, all of the cell
membranes are related to one another structurally, chemically, functionally and developmen-
tally. A basic conundrum is that while at first glance all membranes appear to be quite similar
in size, structure and basic composition, they support very different functions.
Chapter 2 will discuss the chronology of membrane studies from their murky beginnings
centuries ago to the classic Gorter and Grendel experiment (1925) that proposed the
membrane lipid bilayer.
<
References
81.
[2] Mariana Ruiz Villarreal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Animal_cell_structure_en.svg
; public domain.
[3] Lodish H, Berk A, Matsudaira P, Kaiser CA, Kreiger M, Ploegh H. et al. Molecular Cell Biology. 6th ed. New
York, NY: WH Freeman; 2007.
[4] Pollard TD, Earnshaw WC, Lippincott-Schwartz J. Cell Biology. 2nd ed. Elsevier; 2007.
[5] Becker WM, Kleinsmith LJ, Hardin J, Bertoni GP. The World of the Cell. 7th ed. San Francisco, CA: Benjamin
Cummings; 2009.
[6] Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, Raff M, Roberts K, Walter P. Molecular Biology of the Cell. 4th ed. Garland
Science; 2007.
[7] Nelson DL, Cox MM. Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry. 5th ed. New York, NY: W Freeman; 2008.
[8] Berg JM, Tymoczko JL, Stryer L. Biochemistry. 6th ed. New York, NY: W Freeman; 2007.
[9] Mariana Ruiz Villarreal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endomembrane_system
; public domain.
[10] Lippincott-Schwartz J, Phair RD. Lipids and cholesterol as regulators of traffic in the endomembrane system.
Ann Rev Biophys 2010;39:559
[1] Reyes H. Acute fatty liver of pregnancy: A cryptic disease threatening. Clin Liver Dis 1999;3(1):69
e
78.
[11] Cooper GM. The Cell: A Molecular Approach. 2nd ed. Sinauer Associates; 2000.
[12] Chi YH, Chen ZJ, Jeang KT. The nuclear envelopathies and human diseases. J Biomed Sci 2009;16:96.
[13] Becker WM, Kleinsmith LJ, Hardin J, Bertoni GP. The World of the Cell. San Francisco, CA: Benjamin
Cummings; 2009. p. 333
e
9.
[14] Porter KR, Claude A, Fullam EF. A study of tissue culture cells by electron microscopy. J Exp Med
1945;81:233
e
46.
e
