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What is a phoshpholipid?

Updated: 8/9/2023
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โˆ™ 10y ago

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Glyceral and fatty acids

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Bonnie Monahan

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โˆ™ 2y ago
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โˆ™ 8y ago

In a phospholipid, there are only two fatty acids. One of the outer carbons of the glycerol is attached to a phosphate group, or, more often, to a group that includes a phosphate group. Phospholipids are important because they are amphipathic, in other words the two ends of the molecule are different; the fatty acids form a hydrophobic region, whereas the phosphate is hydrophilic.

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โˆ™ 15y ago

Phospholipids are a group of lipids that possess a glycerol backbone with two attached fatty acid tails (therefore it is a diglyceride) and another attached head group composed of a phosphate bonded to an organic molecule (serine, choline, inositol, or ethanolamine). The two fatty acid chains are always side by side and the phosphate-containing group is used to distinguish different types of phospholipids. The names of the four major types of phospholipids are phosphatidyl-serine, -choline, -inositol, and -ethanolamine respectively. Because of the phosphate and polar groups attached to the phosphate, the head region is hydrophilic while the tail region with the two fatty acid chains are hydrophobic. Due to the tendency of the head group to interact with water and the tail chains to avoid water, phospholipids can spontaneously form single layered micelles or double-layered liposomes in water. These conformations enable polar head groups to interact with water while allowing hydrophobic tail chains to avoid water and interact with each other. In living organisms, phospholipid bilayers, which are similar to liposomes but on a much larger scale with interdispersed proteins and sometimes other molecules, are used as cell membranes for all cells (even those organisms that have cell walls). In eukaryotes phospholipid bilayers also form compartments inside cells (endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi, vesicles, nuclear envelope, etc.).

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โˆ™ 14y ago

a lipid in which the extracted buffers create a bilayer of a regular lipid.

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โˆ™ 12y ago

A lipid containing a phosphate group in its molecule

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โˆ™ 10y ago

Phospholipid are a class of lipids that can form lipid bilayers. They are therefore a major component of cell membranes.

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โˆ™ 15y ago

phopholipids in the cell membrane

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โˆ™ 13y ago

define phospholipids and carbon

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Q: What is a phoshpholipid?
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How do phoshpolipids function in the human body?

The Phoshpholipid are the predominant lipids of cell membrane. They can act as anchors to cell proteins. Phospholipids can also exist out of cell membrane.