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Cell membrane (edexcel-unit 1)

Haloo!
I want to ask why peripheral protein is located inside cell but it functions as a receptor protein?

& whats the different between integral protein and peripheral protein??

Help?
Thankss! :tongue:

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Reply 1

Hype en Ecosse

Original post by Lamalam

Hi there, Lamalam. I struggled with this, too, when I first read about the topic. The terminology is really confusing!

The definition of an integral protein is a protein which is integrated into the cell membrane; it is attached there for its entire life cycle.
A peripheral protein is one which is attached to the cell membrane temporarily as part of its function - this can be by attaching itself to another protein structure in the membrane, by attaching itself to lipid structures, or by penetrating into the phospholipid bilayer.

It's also important to note that the words "integral" and "peripheral" tell you nothing about a protein's function. It can be part of a receptor, it can be an enzyme, it can be part of the cytoskeleton, it can be an ion channel; it can have a whole host of functions. So you can't deduce anything about what a protein does from how it's integrated into the cell membrane.

However, to give you a bit of knowledge about how a peripheral protein can play a role in receptors, we have to go a bit beyond A-level and learn a little about the G-Protein Coupled Receptor (something a guy won the Nobel prize for his work on this year!) GPCRs are very, very important receptors in eukaryotes and are the method by which many cell-environment interactions take place: a good example of this is the mechanism of action of adrenaline. The G-protein part of the GPCR is a peripheral protein. :smile:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 2

Lamalam

Thank you so much :smile:

Have a better understanding now :biggrin:

Gonna work hard to study med in uni !!

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Reply 3

Hype en Ecosse

Original post by Lamalam

Thank you so much :smile:

Have a better understanding now :biggrin:

Gonna work hard to study med in uni !!

Good luck! I was in your position 2 years ago and I'm definitely loving it now. :biggrin:

We have an award-winning medicine forum here on TSR that you should check out.

I also just did a quick Google search and have a good image for you:

Reply 4

Lamalam

Thanks

when i was revising, the word " cytoskeleton" often appears, what is cytoskeleton actually ? Does cytoskeleton have a funtion? And can u share with me how you revise ? Coz u seems to be sooo clever & smart ! Sorry, off-topic :P

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Reply 5

Hype en Ecosse

Original post by Lamalam

Thanks

when i was revising, the word " cytoskeleton" often appears, what is cytoskeleton actually ? Does cytoskeleton have a funtion?

"cyto" comes from the Greek word for "cell". So "cytoskeleton" literaly means 'cell skeleton', and that's what it is! Just like we have our skeleton to hold us up and move us around.

It's a bit like the scaffolding of a building - it's all there to give the building structure and to hold it up. That's what the cytoskeleton does, except the cytoskeleton can also 'pull' on organelles inside the cell to move them around (like vesicles, or moving organelles in cell division); it can pull on the cell membrane, too, to make it all move around (like making cilia 'waft' or flagella turn).

And can u share with me how you revise ? Coz u seems to be sooo clever & smart ! Sorry, off-topic :P

Haha, thank you, but no! I've just finished my A levels and am doing a degree that involves this stuff (to an extent), so the info is all well burned into my skull now.

I'm afraid I can't really run through how I study right now, but I did write a post a while ago that has some links that you might find helpful:
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2113898&page=9&p=42036889#post42036889

Reply 6

Lamalam

Thanks

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