A.  Daily Blog

(9/29/10)

Question for the day: Does the organization of unsaturated fats decrease or increase when the heat increases?

Answer for the day: The organization of the saturated fats decreases.

In the lecture, Dr. Weber went over the creation of phospholipids. They are formed in the ER, end up in the plasma membrane by vesicles, sent to the Golgi Apparatus, leave for the plasma membrane by exocytosis. The plasma membrane continuously grow but it doesn't become bigger, or rather longer (or whatever the term is) because of the endocytosis. Another topic talked about today that were twenty-five percent of all genes encode for membrane proteins. That latter part actually surprised me to figure out that one-fourth of all our genes would have gone into membrane proteins. I actually would have believed that only a small percent of it would. Though, when thought about, it makes sense considering that problems in membrane proteins can lead to certain diseases.

(10/1/10)

The question of the day was which would pass through a membrane with a higher rate: urea or diethylurea? And, the answer was that the diethylurea passed through the membrane with a higher rate because the hydrophobic qualities is good for passive transport. Then, the discussion went onto how the membrane transport was a selectively permeable plasma membrane, ensured essential molecules enter and waste products exit. Then, the the Law of Thermodynamics were went over. The first law states that energy cannot be created nor destroyed. While the second law states that disorder in the universe is always increasing. Though, during the talk of what the second law was, I couldn't help but relate it to a more worldly view--the world only grows more disorganized as time goes go on. Then, the next topic was carriers and how they were used for both active and passive transport and need a specific solute. When it was discussed that phosphates were used to change carriers to pumps, I couldn't help but realize that the video used in class made it clearer and was used in freshman year of high school. 

(10/6/10)

Today in lecture was two-thirds review and one-third of the experiment that was studied (though, in retrospect, that experiment tied into with the past chapters, so, you could say the whole lecture was based on review). In the experiment, we studied that aquaporins could be used to transport water molecules in and out of the cell. Though, as we saw the results of the CHIP28 being injected into the frog oocyte and placed in a hypotonic, making the oocyte eventually burst, my group and I described it as the death of a possible tadpole. Nonetheless, the review today was a good and assisted in refreshing past topics. Still a good idea to study, though! (Even though tests do not reflect the intelligence of a student...) 

B.  Useful Materials

1. Membrane Transport (10/3/10): In this link, it describes the different types of transport. Diffusion, facilitated diffusion, primary active transport and secondary active transport. Since we didn't go over secondary active transport all that much, I found the site useful to learn about it. Though, the paragraphs about diffusion, facilitated diffusion and primary active transport were quite a helpful review.

2. Sodium-Potassium Pump (10/3/10): I found this video while I was searching around for other videos of active transport or passive transport. However, when I came across this one, I decided that it was a simple way of describing a sodium-potassium pump. At the beginning of the video, it describes what color a person would be wearing if they were a certain molecule. In all honesty, I believe our class should do something like that.

3. Importance of Membrane Transporters (10/3/10): In this PubMed article, it discusses how the placenta, the key growth factor in the fetus, transports nutrients and such from the mother to the fetus. What was also mentioned was that it played a role in expressing active membrane transporters and xenophobiotic metabolism enzymes. During our discussion on membrane transport, it was discussed how these membrane transporters play a crucial role in diseases and such. So, I found this said article to be interesting since it delved into how the fetus needed proper membrane transporters to become healthy as it grew.