Journal of Biochemistry and Biotechnology

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Commentary - Journal of Biochemistry and Biotechnology (2023) Volume 6, Issue 5

Organization of biological membranes: fundamentals and applications.

Ola Merliy*

Department of Biological Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

Corresponding Author:
Ola Merliy
Department of Biological science,
University of Southampton,
Southampton,
UK
E-mail: Olamerliy@gmail.com

Received: 01-Mar-2023, Manuscript No. AABB-23-90560; Editor assigned: 03-Mar-2023, AABB-23-90560 (PQ); Reviewed: 17-Mar-2023, QC No. AABB-23-90560; Revised: 02-May-2023, Manuscript No. AABB-23-90560 (R); Published: 09-May-2023, DOI:10.35841/aabb.6.3.139

Citation: Merliy O. Organization of biological membranes: fundamentals and applications. J Biochem Biotech. 2023;6(3):1-2.

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Description

Membranes in living things are necessary for life as we know it. They create cells and create a barrier between the inside and outside of an organism, managing which chemicals enter and exit through their selective permeability. Membranes also allow for the generation of ion gradients that can be used by living things to produce energy. They also send, receive and process information in the form of chemical and electrical impulses to regulate the communication between cells. The structure, functionality and significance of membranes and the proteins that make them up are briefly discussed in this essay, along with how they affect both health and disease. There is also discussion on research methods for membranes. A bilayer of lipid molecules makes up the double sheet that makes up biological membranes. Generally speaking, this structure is known as the phospholipid bilayer. Membrane proteins and sugars are important structural elements of biological membranes [1]. In addition to the many lipid types that are present in them. Membrane proteins are essential for maintaining the structural integrity, molecular structure, and material transport through biological membranes. Only one side of the bilayer contains sugars, which are bonded to some lipids and proteins via covalent interactions.

In biology, a membrane is a thin covering that serves as the external limit of a living cell or an internal cell compartment. The organelles are the spaces surrounded by internal membranes and have the plasma membrane as their external boundary. Biological membranes serve three main purposes: first, they prevent harmful substances from entering the cell; second, they have receptors and channels that let certain molecules, like ions, nutrients, wastes and metabolic products, mediate cellular and extracellular activities and allow them to pass between organelles and between the cell and the outside environment and third, they divide metabolic processes that are necessary but incompatible that take place within organelles [2]. The lipid bilayer, a double layer of phospholipid, cholesterol and glycolipid molecules that contains fatty acid chains and controls whether a membrane is formed into long, flat sheets or rounded vesicles, makes up the majority of a membrane.

Cell membranes have a fluid quality thanks to lipids and their consistency is similar to that of light oil. Many small, fat soluble molecules, like oxygen, can pass through the membrane thanks to the fatty acid chains, but they are repelled by large, water soluble molecules, like sugar and electrically charged ions, like calcium. Large proteins that transport ions and water soluble compounds across the membrane are embedded in the lipid bilayer. Ions can freely diffuse into and out of cells thanks to membrane channels formed by specific proteins in the plasma membrane. Others transfer molecules to the other side of a membrane by binding to particular molecules on one side [3]. On occasion, a single protein will move two distinct types of molecules in opposition to one another. The majority of plasma membranes contain about 50% protein by weight; however certain metabolically active organelle membranes contain up to 75% protein. Long glucose molecules are affixed to proteins on the plasma membrane’s outside.

The membrane organelles play a key role in many cellular processes, such as nutrition intake and conversion, chemical synthesis, energy production and regulation of metabolic pathways. A bilayer membrane with numerous pores surrounds the nucleus, which houses the cell’s genetic material and allows materials to move between the nucleus and cytoplasm. The endoplasmic reticulum, which produces the lipids for all cell membranes, extends its membrane into the outer nuclear membrane. Ribosomes, which are either suspended freely in the cell’s contents or bound to the endoplasmic reticulum, produce proteins [4]. The mitochondria, the oxidizing and energy storing units of the cell have an outer membrane readily permeable to many substances and a less permeable inner membrane studded with transport proteins and energy producing enzymes.

References

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