Endocytosis

• A process in which cells take up fluid as well as large and small

molecules.
 Types of endocytosis
• Pinocytosis
• Phagocytosis
• Receptor-mediated endocytosis
 Types of endocytosis

Receptor-mediated endocytosis

• Specific
macromolecules
are taken up
from the extracellular
fluid.

• It is a selective
concentrating
mechanism to increase
the efficiency of
internalization
of particular
macromolecules.
 Receptor-mediated endocytosis

• Cholesterol take up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ5JPLQ2bM8
Exocytosis and Endocytosis involves
plasma membrane
 Cell is like a factory…

• Factory has a wall that raw material come in and products and
waste material get out. What is this wall in a cell?
 A container that holds all the cell’s molecules:
The plasma membrane

• A wall that protects cellular chemicals from outside environment.

• Nutrients come inside the cells and waste products exit the cell through
plasma membrane.
 Plasma membrane acts as a barrier

• Cell membranes act as a selective barrier to prevent molecules on

one side from freely mixing with molecules on the other side.
 Plasma membrane is not just a wall!

• Plasma membrane is not just a barrier. It is important for the exchange

of molecules between the cell and its environment.
Function of plasma membrane
 Plasma membrane and membrane of internal
compartments of the cell

• These membranes are all constructed on the same principle

with differences in their membrane composition especially in
resident proteins.
Structure of the membrane
• Cell membrane is made of lipid molecules, proteins and carbohydrates.
 All membranes are made of lipid bilayers

• The lipid bilayer acts as a permeability barrier to water-soluble

molecules.
• Proteins give the membrane its unique characteristic.
 The structure of lipids in the membrane

• The most abundant lipids in membrane are phospholipids,

a Phosphate-containing hydrophilic head linked to a pair of
hydrophobic tails.
• The most common phospholipid in cell membrane is
Phosphatidylcholine.
 All types of membrane lipids follow the same
structural principle

• All molecules with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic parts

Are called amphipathic.
Why do lipids in the membrane have both
hydrophilic and hydrophobic parts?
 Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic molecules in water

• Hydrophilic molecules form interactions with water molecules.

• Hydrophobic molecules avoid water molecules.

Phospholipids are subject to two conflicting forces.
The head likes water and the tail avoids water.

How is this conflict resolved by the cell?

This conflict is resolved by formation of lipid bilayer

• The hydrophilic heads face water and the hydrophobic tails are
shielded from the water in the interior of the bilayer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm-dAvbl330
How does a membrane seal itself?
 Tears in membrane can be repaired
Small tear
 Tears in membrane can be repaired
Large tear

• Phospholipid bilayer can bend and seal itself.

• Bending and sealing excludes free edges that exposes the hydrophobic
tails to water.
 The membrane is a fluid and flexible

• Lipid molecules move and change places with one anther within
the plane of the bilayer making membrane a two dimensional fluid.
• Lipid molecules rarely tumble from one half of the bilayer to the
other half.
 The fluidity of the lipid bilayer depends on the
composition of phospholipids

The length and

number
of double bonds
impacts how
tight the tails pack
in bilayer.

• Nature of the hydrocarbon tail is important for the fluidity of the

membrane. The more closely packed tails results in less fluid
membrane.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKN5sq5dtW4
In animal cells membrane fluidity is modulated by
cholesterol molecules

• It constitutes 20% of lipids in the membrane by weight.

• They fill the space between neighboring phospholipids created

by the kinks in their unsaturated hydrocarbon tails.
Why is membrane fluidity important?
Why is membrane fluidity important?
How is membrane assembled?
Phospholipids are manufactured on ER
 Addition of new phospholipids to the membrane
and even growth of the membrane

• Transfer of lipids from one monolayer to the other is done by

enzymes called scramblases.
 Membranes are asymmetrical: asymmetrical
distribution of phospholipids
Interior of Golgi

Cytosol

• Two halves of the membrane bilayers have different sets of

Phospholipids.
• Asymmetric arrangement of phospholipids will make each cell
membrane have a distinct inside and outside faces.
 Membranes are asymmetrical: asymmetrical
distribution of glycolipids

• Glycolipids are mainly in the plasma membrane and only in the non-
cytosolic side of the lipid bilayer.
 Membranes made of lipid bilayer and proteins

• Most membrane functions are carried out by membrane proteins.

 Function of membrane proteins

• Each type of membrane contains a different set of proteins reflecting

the specialized functions of the particular membrane.
Association of membrane proteins with
lipid bilayer
 Integral and peripheral membrane proteins

Integral Peripheral

• Proteins that are directly attached to the lipid bilayer are called
Integral membrane proteins.

• Proteins that are located on the surface of the membrane are called
Peripheral proteins.
 Transmembrane proteins in the lipid bilayer

• Transmembrane proteins cross the membrane as α helix.

Transmembrane proteins can form hydrophilic pore
by multiple amphipathic α helices

• These are multi-pass transmembrane proteins that their membrane-

spanning α helix has amino acids with hydrophobic side chains
facing the lipid molecules and amino acids with hydrophilic side
chains forming the lining of the hydrophilic pore in the lipid bilayer.
 Transmembrane proteins can form hydrophilic
channel by forming β sheet

• Some proteins cross the lipid bilayer as β sheet that is rolled into a
cylinder called β barrel.
• Most striking example of these proteins is Porin in the mitochondrial
and bacterial outer membranes.
A β barrel protein in mitochondrial outer membrane

• Porin is a β barrel protein that resides in the outer membrane

of mitochondria and allows passage of small nutrients, metabolite
and inorganic ions.
Membrane fluidity is important for lateral
diffusion of proteins
 Membrane fluidity allows lateral diffusion
of membrane proteins

• Fusion of mouse cell with human cell shows that proteins in

the lipid bilayer can diffuse laterally.
 Lateral mobility of proteins in restricted

• Plasma membrane proteins can be tethered to structures outside,

inside or on an adjacent cell.

• Cells can also create barriers to restrict specific membrane

components to one membrane domain.