phospholipid

created by alexboko
(thing) by piq (4.6 mon) (print)   (I like it!) Mon Oct 23 2000 at 17:21:57

Phospholipids and glycolipids

  • Play crucial structural roles
  • Constructed of fatty acid chains attached to glycerol backbone (like fats)
  • Unline in fats, the third carbon of the glycerol molecule is occupied by a phosphate group.

    O-
    |
R-O-P-O-3CH2   O
    ||    |    ||
    O   H-2C-O-C-CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2=CH...
          |
        H-1C-O-C-CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2CH2...
               ||
               O
The Phosphate group is the head, the strings to the right are the tail. CH2 is actually CH2 and 3CH2 is 3CH2. Furthermore, 2C is actually 2C and 1C is 1C. || is a double bond and | is a single.

Glycolipids have a short carbohydrate chain (1-15 monomers) for a head, but act like phospholipids.

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