membrane: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	biological membrane

Photos and Videos

Detailed diagram of a plasma membrane's lipid bilayer showing two layers of phospholipid molecules with hydrophilic heads facing outward and hydrophobic tails inward, embedded cholesterol, integral (intrinsic) proteins spanning the membrane, peripheral (extrinsic) proteins attached to the surface, and sugar side chains extending from the outer face.

Diagram of a cell membrane showing three types of membrane transport: simple diffusion of small molecules, facilitated diffusion through transporter proteins, and primary active transport using ATP to move molecules across the membrane. Labels identify the hydrophilic heads and hydrophobic tails of phospholipids, as well as extracellular and intracellular surfaces.

Diagram of a chloroplast showing its structure, including the outer and inner membranes, stroma, thylakoids stacked into grana, stroma lamellae, lumen, and intermembrane space.

The video thumbnail image shows an illustration of an animal cell next to a photo of a whale swimming in the oean.

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Topics

microvillus meninges endoplasmic reticulum cell membrane villus cell junction lipid bilayer basement membrane unit membrane cell wall blood lymph nucleus vacuole Flagellum cilium cytoplasm protoplasm Organelle plasmodesma

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Key People

Neher, Erwin

Erwin Neher

German physicist

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Bert Sakmann

German scientist

Mirbel, Charles-François Brisseau de

Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel

French botanist

Mechanism of cellular autophagy, illustration for Nobel Prize Award in Medicine 2016. 3D illustration showing fusion of lysosome with autophagosome containing microbes and molecules.

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