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Transport and Inherited Disease pp 35–58Cite as

Membrane structure

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Abstract

Insight into the structure of membranes came initially from physiologists interested in the transport of molecules into cells, and from lipid biochemists. Their studies emphasized the lipid bilayer as an important feature of membrane structure. The application of new techniques in the mid 1960s caused initial conflict with these views by stressing a variety of protein-dominated structures. A consensus was reached which viewed membranes as being built on a common plan, composed of a fluid bilayer in which were embedded biologically active proteins capable of independent movement in the plane of the bilayer. More recent work has stressed the constraints on movement of particular membrane components and the local order which may exist within this basic plan, and thus is slowly indicating the basis for the differences between individual membranes. In this account I shall attempt to outline some aspects of our understanding of membrane structure, in the hope that it might form a rational basis on which to build the more detailed discussions of what membranes can do, how they do it, and what may go wrong with their contribution to cellular function.

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Authors
  1. R. Coleman
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child Life and Health, University of Edinburgh, 17, Hatton Place, Edinburgh, UK

    N. R. Belton

  2. Department of Chemical Pathology, Old Medical School, Thoresby Place, Leeds, UK

    C. Toothill

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© 1981 The Society for the Study of Inborn Errors of Metabolism

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Coleman, R. (1981). Membrane structure. In: Belton, N.R., Toothill, C. (eds) Transport and Inherited Disease. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7316-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7316-9_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-009-7318-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-7316-9

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