Abstract
A membrane defined the outer boundary of the first living cell nearly 4 billion years ago. Since then, membranes have acquired additional functions through evolutionary selection. Modern membranes participate in many essential cell activities including barrier functions, transmembrane signaling, forming a locus for metabolic reactions, energy transduction, cell compartmentalization, and intercellular recognition. In this chapter we will explore some of the basic functions of biological membranes. We will also discuss some of the structural features of modern membranes. We will close this chapter with a brief discussion of a few research milestones that have contributed to our knowledge of what membranes are and how they work.
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© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Petty, H.R. (1993). An Introduction to Biological Membranes. In: Molecular Biology of Membranes. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1146-9_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1146-9_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
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