(Solved) Phospholipid Structure Importance

connorp

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11 years ago

Phospholipid Structure Importance

What specifically about phospholipids makes them the idea molecules to form cellular membranes and why.

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doubleu

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11 years ago

The 'head' of a phospholipid is hydrophilic (attracted to water), whereas the hydrophobic 'tails' repel water. The hydrophillic head contains the negatively charged phosphate group, and may contain other polar groups. The hydrophobic tail usually consists of long fatty acid hydrocarbon chains.

As a result of this configuration, when placed in water, phospholipids form a variety of structures depending on the specific properties of the phospholipid. These specific properties allow phospholipids to play an important role in the phospholipid bilayer.

In biological systems, the phospholipids often occur with other molecules (proteins, glycolipids, cholesterol) in a bilayer such as a cell membrane. Lipid bilayers occur when hydrophobic tails line up against one another, forming a membrane with hydrophilic heads on both sides facing the water.

It is polar, which allows for unique characteristics.

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mikael

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llijjill

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11 years ago

The fact that they are highly ampipathic (both polar and non-polar character) makes them ideal for bilayer production. As the bilayers will have polar regions on the surfaces of the bilayers interacting with aqueous environments, this makes them ideal for separating aqueous environments (for example, inside versus outside the cell).

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vanbu

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11 years ago

This verified answer contains over 120 words.

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Phospholipid Structure Importance

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