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PA is a unique phospholipid in that it has a small highly charged head group that is very close to the glycerol backbone. PA is known to play roles in both vesicle fission [12] and fusion, [13] and these roles may relate to the biophysical properties of PA. At sites of membrane budding or fusion, the membrane becomes or is highly curved.
Phospholipids [1] are a class of lipids whose molecule has a hydrophilic "head" containing a phosphate group and two hydrophobic "tails" derived from fatty acids, joined by an alcohol residue (usually a glycerol molecule). Marine phospholipids typically have omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA integrated as part of the phospholipid molecule. [2]
Each glycerophospholipid molecule consists of a small polar head group and two long hydrophobic chains. In the cell membrane, the two layers of phospholipids are arranged as follows: the hydrophobic tails point to each other and form a fatty, hydrophobic center; the ionic head groups are placed at the inner and outer surfaces of the cell membrane
The process takes place in multiple stages. First, fat synthesized within the endoplasmic reticulum accumulates in droplets between the inner and outer phospholipid monolayers of the endoplasmic reticulum membrane. As these droplets increase in size, the two monolayers separate further and eventually pinch off.
The word liposome derives from two Greek words: lipo ("fat") and soma ("body"); it is so named because its composition is primarily of phospholipid.. Liposomes were first described by British hematologist Alec Douglas Bangham [10] [11] [12] in 1961 at the Babraham Institute, in Cambridge—findings that were published 1964.
A biological membrane is a form of lamellar phase lipid bilayer. The formation of lipid bilayers is an energetically preferred process when the glycerophospholipids described above are in an aqueous environment. [2]: 333–4 This is known as the hydrophobic effect.
The phospholipid molecule is amphipathic; it contains a hydrophilic polar head and a hydrophobic nonpolar tail. [4] The phospholipid heads interact with each other and aqueous media, while the hydrocarbon tails orient themselves in the center, away from water. [ 7 ]
In the process of photosynthesis, the phosphorylation of ADP to form ATP using the energy of sunlight is called photophosphorylation. Cyclic photophosphorylation occurs in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions, driven by the main primary source of energy available to living organisms, which is sunlight.