Study Guide 4-1

Membranes and Membrane Transport

Vocabulary

• Endomembrane system
• Integral membrane protein
• Phospholipid
• Phosopholipid bilayer
• Diffusion
• Ion channel
• Carrier protein
• Facilitated diffusion
• Active transport

Competencies

1. State which cell structure uses the most metabolic energy.
2. Identify the main molecular class out of which biological membranes are made.
3. Describe the structure of a phospholipid.
4. Describe the organization of the phospholipid bilayer in biological membranes.
5. Explain how a simple phospholipid bilayer differs from a living biological membrane.
6. Define integral membrane protein, and describe their three domains.
7. Describe the role of cholesterol in biological membranes.
8. Describe the role of cell adhesion proteins.
9. Describe the concentration differences of Na+ and K+  inside and outside cells.
10. Explain the purpose of the non-equilibrium distributions of Na+ and K+  across cell membranes.
11. Explain the physical mechanism causing diffusion.
12. Describe the main function of cell membranes.
13. Describe the mechanism of passive membrane transport for lipids like steroid hormones.
14. Describe the mechanism of passive membrane transport for ions like Na+ and Ca2+.
15. Describe the mechanism of passive membrane transport for large organic molecules like glucose.
16. Describe the mechanism of active membrane transport.
17. Explain under what circumstances passive or active membrane transport will be used by living cells.