Saturday, April 2, 2011

Chemical Composition of The Cell

Huhh..lama tak menulis..

Next week masuk chapter 4. lot of things to study..it's like a biochemistry (a killer subject that might kill me 5 yrs ago.hmm)..

just to share...

Plasma membrane is formed of the following chemical components:

1. Lipids: The bulk of plasma membrane is formed of lipids. The main lipid component of the plasma membrane is phospholipid. About 5 important phospholipids are seen. Of these lecithin is the most abundantly seen phospholipid. Cholesterol and cephalin are also found. Some lipids are triglycerides. The lipids of the cell membrane are polar lipids. They contain hydrophilic heads and hydrophobic tails.

2. Proteins: The proteins of plasma membrane have high molecular weight. Three different classes of proteins occur in the plasma membrane. They are structural proteins, carrier proteins and enzymes. The structural proteins form the 'back bone' of the cell membrane. The carrier proteins are involved in active transport. The enzymes include ATP ase, phosphatase, hexokinase, RNA ase and esterase.

3. Carbohydrates: They form a cell coat around the plasma membrane. Hexose, hexosamine, fucose and sialic acid are the important carbohydrates found in the plasma membrane of RBC. Plasma membrane of Amoeba proteus contains a large amount of polysaccharides.

4. Water: The cell membrane also contains water.
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