Cell membrane

Cell membrane
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Illustration of a cell membrane
Illustration of a cell membrane

The cell membrane (also called the plasma membrane, plasmalemma or "phospholipid bilayer") is a semipermeable lipid bilayer common to all living cells.[1] It contains a wide variety of biological molecules, primarily proteins and lipids, which are involved in a vast array of cellular processes, and also serves as the attachment point for both the intracellular cytoskeleton and, if present, the cell wall.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Function
* 2 Function
* 3 Function
* 4 Composition
o 4.1 Lipids
o 4.2 Proteins
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 External links

[edit] Function

The cell membrane surrounds the cytoplasm of a cell and, in animal cells, physically separates the intracellular components from the extracellular environment, thereby serving a function similar to that of skin. In fungi, bacteria, and plants an additional cell wall forms the outermost boundary, however, the cell wall plays mostly a mechanical support role rather than a role as a selective boundary. The cell membrane also plays a role in anchoring the cytoskeleton to provide shape to the cell, and in attaching to the extracellular matrix to help group cells together in the formation of tissues.

The barrier is selectively permeable and able to regulate what enters and exits the cell, thus facilitating the transport of materials needed for survival. The movement of substances across the membrane can be either passive, occurring without the input of cellular energy, or active, requiring the cell to expend energy in moving it. The membrane also maintains the cell potential.

Specific proteins embedded in the cell membrane can act as molecular signals which allow cells to communicate with each other. Protein receptors are found ubiquitously and function to receive signals from both the environment and other cells. These signals are transduced into a form which the cell can use to directly effect a response. Other proteins on the surface of the cell membrane serve as "markers" which identify a cell to other cells. The interaction of these markers with their respective receptors forms the basis of cell-cell interaction in the immune system.


[edit] Function

The cell membrane surrounds the cytoplasm of a cell and, in animal cells, physically separates the intracellular components from the extracellular environment, thereby serving a function similar to that of skin. In fungi, bacteria, and plants an additional cell wall forms the outermost boundary, however, the cell wall plays mostly a mechanical support role rather than a role as a selective boundary. The cell membrane also plays a role in anchoring the cytoskeleton to provide shape to the cell, and in attaching to the extracellular matrix to help group cells together in the formation of tissues.

The barrier is selectively permeable and able to regulate what enters and exits the cell, thus facilitating the transport of materials needed for survival. The movement of substances across the membrane can be either passive, occurring without the input of cellular energy, or active, requiring the cell to expend energy in moving it. The membrane also maintains the cell potential.

Specific proteins embedded in the cell membrane can act as molecular signals which allow cells to communicate with each other. Protein receptors are found ubiquitously and function to receive signals from both the environment and other cells. These signals are transduced into a form which the cell can use to directly effect a response. Other proteins on the surface of the cell membrane serve as "markers" which identify a cell to other cells. The interaction of these markers with their respective receptors forms the basis of cell-cell interaction in the immune system.

[edit] Function

The cell membrane surrounds the cytoplasm of a cell and, in animal cells, physically separates the intracellular components from the extracellular environment, thereby serving a function similar to that of skin. In fungi, bacteria, and plants an additional cell wall forms the outermost boundary, however, the cell wall plays mostly a mechanical support role rather than a role as a selective boundary. The cell membrane also plays a role in anchoring the cytoskeleton to provide shape to the cell, and in attaching to the extracellular matrix to help group cells together in the formation of tissues.

The barrier is selectively permeable and able to regulate what enters and exits the cell, thus facilitating the transport of materials needed for survival. The movement of substances across the membrane can be either passive, occurring without the input of cellular energy, or active, requiring the cell to expend energy in moving it. The membrane also maintains the cell potential.

Specific proteins embedded in the cell membrane can act as molecular signals which allow cells to communicate with each other. Protein receptors are found ubiquitously and function to receive signals from both the environment and other cells. These signals are transduced into a form which the cell can use to directly effect a response. Other proteins on the surface of the cell membrane serve as "markers" which identify a cell to other cells. The interaction of these markers with their respective receptors forms the basis of cell-cell interaction in the immune system.

[edit] Composition

Cell membranes contain a variety of biological molecules, notable lipids and proteins. Material is incorporated into the membrane, or deleted from it, by a variety of mechanisms:

* Fusion of intracellular vesicles with the membrane not only excretes the contents of the vesicle, but also incorporates the vesicle membrane's components into the cell membrane. The membrane may form blebs that pinch off to become vesicles.
* If a membrane is continuous with a tubular structure made of membrane material, then material from the tube can be drawn into the membrane continuously.
* Although the concentration of membrane components in the aqueous phase is low (stable membrane components have low solubility in water), exchange of molecules with this small reservoir is possible.

In all cases, the mechanical tension in the membrane has an effect on the rate of exchange. In some cells, usually having a smooth shape, the membrane tension and area are interrelated by elastic and dynamical mechanical properties, and the time-dependent interrelation is sometimes called homeostasis, area regulation or tension regulation.

[edit] Lipids
Examples of the major membrane phospholipids and glycolipids: phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho), phosphatidylethanolamine (PtdEtn), phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns), phosphatidylserine (PtdSer).
Examples of the major membrane phospholipids and glycolipids: phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho), phosphatidylethanolamine (PtdEtn), phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns), phosphatidylserine (PtdSer).

The cell membrane consists of three classes of amphipathic lipids: phospholipids, glycolipids, and steroids. The relative composition of each depends upon the type of cell, but in the majority of cases phospholipids are the most abundant.[2]

The fatty chains in phospholipids and glycolipids usually contain an even number of carbon atoms, typically between 14 and 24. The 16- and 18-carbon fatty acids are the most common. Fatty acids may be saturated or unsaturated, with the configuration of the double bonds nearly always cis. The length and the degree of unsaturation of fatty acids chains have a profound effect on membranes fluidity[3].

The entire membrane is held together via non-covalent interaction of hydrophobic tails, however the structure is quite fluid and not fixed rigidly in place. Phospholipid molecules in the cell membrane are "fluid" in the sense that they are free to diffuse and exhibit rapid lateral diffusion along the layer they are present in. However, movement of phospholipid molecules between layers is not energetically favourable and does not occur to an appreciable extent. Lipid rafts and caveolae are examples of cholesterol-enriched microdomains in the cell membrane.

In animal cells cholesterol is normally found dispersed in varying degrees throughout cell membranes, in the irregular spaces between the hydrophobic tails of the membrane lipids, where it confers a stiffening and strengthening effect on the membrane.[1]

[edit] Proteins
Type Description Examples
Integral proteins
or transmembrane proteins Span the membrane and have a hydrophilic cytosolic domain which interacts with internal molecules, a hydrophobic membrane-spanning domain which anchors it within the cell membrane, and a hydrophilic extracellular domain which interacts with external molecules. The hydrophobic domain consists of one, multiple, or a combination of α-helices and β sheet protein motifs. Ion channels, proton pumps, G protein-coupled receptor
Lipid anchored proteins Covalently bound to single or multiple lipid molecules; hydrophobically insert into the cell membrane and anchor the protein. The protein itself is not in contact with the membrane. G proteins
Peripheral proteins Attached to integral membrane proteins, or associated with peripheral regions of the lipid bilayer. These proteins tend to have only temporary interactions with biological membranes, and once reacted the molecule dissociates to carry on its work in the cytoplasm. Some enzymes, some hormones

The cell membrane plays host to a large amount of protein which is responsible for its various activities. The amount of protein differs between species and according to function, however the typical amount in a cell membrane is 50%.[3] These proteins are undoubtedly important to a cell: approximately a third of the genes in yeast code specifically for them, and this number is even higher in multicellular organisms.[2]

The cell membrane, being exposed to the outside environment, is an important site of cell-cell communication. As such, a large variety of protein receptors and identification proteins, such as antigens, are present on the surface of the membrane.

[edit] See also

* AP2 adaptors
* Bacterial cell structure
* Cell adhesion
* Efflux (microbiology)
* Elasticity of cell membranes
* Gram-negative bacteria
* Gram-positive bacteria

[edit] References

1. ^ a b Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, et al. Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4th ed.. ISBN 0-8153-3218-1.
2. ^ a b Lodish H, Berk A, Zipursky LS, et al (2004). Molecular Cell Biology, 4th ed.. ISBN 0-7167-3136-31986.
3. ^ a b Jesse Gray, Shana Groeschler, Tony Le, Zara Gonzalez (2002). Membrane Structure (SWF). Davidson College. Retrieved on 2007-01-11.

[edit] External links

* Lipids, Membranes and Vesicle Trafficking - The Virtual Library of Biochemistry and Cell Biology
* Cell membrane protein extraction protocol
* Membrane homeostasis, tension regulation, mechanosensitive membrane exchange and membrane traffic
* 3D structures of proteins associated with plasma membrane of eukaryotic cells

[show]
v • d • e
Organelles of the cell
Acrosome - Cell wall - Cell membrane - Chloroplast - Cilium/Flagellum - Centrosome - Cytoplasm - Endoplasmic reticulum - Endosome - Golgi apparatus - Lysosome - Melanosome - Mitochondrion - Myofibril - Nucleus - Nucleolus - Parenthesome - Peroxisome - Plastid - Ribosome - Vacuole - Vesicle
[show]
v • d • e
Structures of the cell membrane
Caveolae/Coated pits - Cell junctions - Glycocalyx - Lipid raft/microdomains - Myelin sheath - Nodes of Ranvier - Nuclear envelope - Phycobilisomes
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_membrane"

Categories: Cell anatomy | Membrane biology | Organelles
Views

* Article
* Discussion
* Edit this page
* History

Personal tools

* Sign in / create account

Navigation

* Main page
* Contents
* Featured content
* Current events
* Random article

interaction

* About Wikipedia
* Community portal
* Recent changes
* Contact Wikipedia
* Donate to Wikipedia
* Help

Search

Toolbox

* What links here
* Related changes
* Upload file
* Special pages
* Printable version
* Permanent link
* Cite this article

In other languages

* العربية
* Български
* Català
* Česky
* Dansk
* Deutsch
* Español
* Français
* 한국어
* Bahasa Indonesia
* Íslenska
* Italiano
* עברית
* Lëtzebuergesch
* Lietuvių
* Македонски
* Bahasa Melayu
* Nederlands
* 日本語
* Occitan
* Polski
* Português
* Русский
* Simple English
* Slovenčina
* Slovenščina
* Српски / Srpski
* Basa Sunda
* Suomi
* Svenska
* Tiếng Việt
* Türkçe
* 中文

Powered by MediaWiki
Wikimedia Foundation

* This page was last modified 07:46, 25 August 2007.
* All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.)
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a US-registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity.
* Privacy policy
* About Wikipedia
* Disclaimers