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Membrane Fluidity

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Encyclopedia of Biophysics

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Synonyms

Molecular motion in biological membranes; The mobility of membrane components

Definition

The variety of anisotropic motions which contributes to the mobility of components in the biological membrane.

Introduction

In 1972, Singer and Nicolson (1972) suggested the so-called fluid mosaic model of the biological membrane (Fig. 1). This useful hypothesis explained many phenomena occurring in model and biological membranes. According to this model, membrane proteins and other membrane-embedded compounds are suspended in a two-dimensional fluid formed by phospholipids. This fluid state of membrane lipids is critical for membrane function. It allows, for example, free diffusion and equal distribution of new cell-synthesized lipids and proteins; lateral diffusion of proteins and other molecules in signaling events and other membrane reactions; membrane fusion, i.e., fusion of vesicles with organelles; separation of membranes during cell division; etc.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Singer-Nicolson model of...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Advanced Center for ESR Technology (ACERT), Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Boris Dzikovski & Jack Freed

Authors
  1. Boris Dzikovski
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  2. Jack Freed
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Boris Dzikovski .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University Leicester MRC Centre, Leicester, UK

    Gordon Roberts

  2. Dept Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Anthony Watts

Section Editor information

  1. Membrane Biophysics Platform, Department of Chemistry and Institute of Chemical Biology, Imperial College London, London, UK

    John Seddon

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© 2019 European Biophysical Societies' Association (EBSA)

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Dzikovski, B., Freed, J. (2019). Membrane Fluidity. In: Roberts, G., Watts, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Biophysics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35943-9_546-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35943-9_546-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-35943-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-35943-9

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