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The fluid mosaic model explains various characteristics regarding the structure of functional cell membranes. According to this biological model , there is a lipid bilayer (two molecules thick layer consisting primarily of amphipathic phospholipids) in which protein molecules are embedded.
Building on the fluid mosaic model, a framework called the proteolipid code was proposed in order to explain membrane organization. [8] The proteolipid code relies on the concept of a zone, which is a functional region of membrane that is assembled and stabilized with both protein and lipid dependency.
Illustration of a eukaryotic cell membrane Comparison of a eukaryotic vs. a prokaryotic cell membrane. The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane or cytoplasmic membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological membrane that separates and protects the interior of a cell from the outside environment (the extracellular space).
Cross-sectional view of the structures that can be formed by phospholipids in an aqueous solution. A biological membrane, biomembrane or cell membrane is a selectively permeable membrane that separates the interior of a cell from the external environment or creates intracellular compartments by serving as a boundary between one part of the cell and another.
Their movement can be described by the fluid mosaic model, which describes the membrane as a mosaic of lipid molecules that act as a solvent for all the substances and proteins within it, so proteins and lipid molecules are then free to diffuse laterally through the lipid matrix and migrate over the membrane.
The results of this experiment were key in the development of the "fluid mosaic" model of the cell membrane by Singer and Nicolson in 1972. [19] According to this model, biological membranes are composed largely of bare lipid bilayer with proteins penetrating either half way or all the way through the membrane.
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Until 1982, it was widely accepted that phospholipids and membrane proteins were randomly distributed in cell membranes, according to the Singer-Nicolson fluid mosaic model, published in 1972. [6] [18] However, membrane microdomains were postulated in the 1970s using biophysical approaches by Stier & Sackmann [19] and Klausner & Karnovsky. [20]