In this video, we're going to introduce yet another type of lipid called the phospholipid. And so phospholipids, as their name implies, are lipids themselves. In fact, they are a large class of lipids. And also, as their name implies with the "phospho" here, these are a large class of lipids that contain a phosphate group, which you all should be familiar with as one of the functional groups. And so phospholipids are actually a major component of all cell membranes, and we'll be able to see this down below in our image. Now, later in our course, we'll talk more about cell membranes, but in this video, we're focusing specifically on phospholipids. Now phospholipids are what we call amphipathic molecules, and "amphipathic" is just a fancy word that means that it contains both hydrophilic or water-loving and hydrophobic or water-fearing groups. And so phospholipids are amphipathic molecules with a hydrophilic head and hydrophobic tails. And so if we take a look at our image down below at these phospholipids, notice that on the far left we're showing you a cell, and we're zooming in specifically to the cell's membrane, which is this little area that's right here. And when we zoom into the cell's membrane, what we'll see is that the vast majority of the membrane is made up of these little structures, these little units that we see here that we call phospholipids. And so if we zoom into just one of these units and blow it up, it would look like what we see right here. And so it noticed that it really has two regions. It has this head region that's up here, and then it has the two tails that extend down below. And so the head region is a hydrophilic region, a hydrophilic head. So this is the head. And, that means that it is water-loving and interacts with water. Whereas the two tails that we see down below, these are hydrophobic tails, meaning that they are water-fearing. And so, these tails that we see here are trying to get away from water. And so, because we have a single molecule here with both hydrophilic groups and hydrophobic groups. That is why we call this an amphipathic molecule. Now if we were to zoom into the structure of the phospholipid even more, we could see the details of its chemical structure, which we see over here. And so notice that it does contain fatty acids, which are these yellow regions here. It also will have a glycerol molecule, and then it will also have a phosphate molecule at the top. And so this phosphate functional group is why we call them phospholipids. And so, really this here concludes our introduction to phospholipids and we'll be able to talk more about phospholipids later in our course when we're talking about cell membranes. But for now, this here concludes our introduction to phospholipids and we'll be able to get some practice as we move forward in our course. So I'll see you all in our next video.
Table of contents
- 1. Introduction to Biology2h 40m
- 2. Chemistry3h 40m
- 3. Water1h 26m
- 4. Biomolecules2h 23m
- 5. Cell Components2h 26m
- 6. The Membrane2h 31m
- 7. Energy and Metabolism2h 0m
- 8. Respiration2h 40m
- 9. Photosynthesis2h 49m
- 10. Cell Signaling59m
- 11. Cell Division2h 47m
- 12. Meiosis2h 0m
- 13. Mendelian Genetics4h 41m
- Introduction to Mendel's Experiments7m
- Genotype vs. Phenotype17m
- Punnett Squares13m
- Mendel's Experiments26m
- Mendel's Laws18m
- Monohybrid Crosses16m
- Test Crosses14m
- Dihybrid Crosses20m
- Punnett Square Probability26m
- Incomplete Dominance vs. Codominance20m
- Epistasis7m
- Non-Mendelian Genetics12m
- Pedigrees6m
- Autosomal Inheritance21m
- Sex-Linked Inheritance43m
- X-Inactivation9m
- 14. DNA Synthesis2h 27m
- 15. Gene Expression3h 20m
- 16. Regulation of Expression3h 31m
- Introduction to Regulation of Gene Expression13m
- Prokaryotic Gene Regulation via Operons27m
- The Lac Operon21m
- Glucose's Impact on Lac Operon25m
- The Trp Operon20m
- Review of the Lac Operon & Trp Operon11m
- Introduction to Eukaryotic Gene Regulation9m
- Eukaryotic Chromatin Modifications16m
- Eukaryotic Transcriptional Control22m
- Eukaryotic Post-Transcriptional Regulation28m
- Eukaryotic Post-Translational Regulation13m
- 17. Viruses37m
- 18. Biotechnology2h 58m
- 19. Genomics17m
- 20. Development1h 5m
- 21. Evolution3h 1m
- 22. Evolution of Populations3h 52m
- 23. Speciation1h 37m
- 24. History of Life on Earth2h 6m
- 25. Phylogeny2h 31m
- 26. Prokaryotes4h 59m
- 27. Protists1h 12m
- 28. Plants1h 22m
- 29. Fungi36m
- 30. Overview of Animals34m
- 31. Invertebrates1h 2m
- 32. Vertebrates50m
- 33. Plant Anatomy1h 3m
- 34. Vascular Plant Transport2m
- 35. Soil37m
- 36. Plant Reproduction47m
- 37. Plant Sensation and Response1h 9m
- 38. Animal Form and Function1h 19m
- 39. Digestive System10m
- 40. Circulatory System1h 57m
- 41. Immune System1h 12m
- 42. Osmoregulation and Excretion50m
- 43. Endocrine System4m
- 44. Animal Reproduction2m
- 45. Nervous System55m
- 46. Sensory Systems46m
- 47. Muscle Systems23m
- 48. Ecology3h 11m
- Introduction to Ecology20m
- Biogeography14m
- Earth's Climate Patterns50m
- Introduction to Terrestrial Biomes10m
- Terrestrial Biomes: Near Equator13m
- Terrestrial Biomes: Temperate Regions10m
- Terrestrial Biomes: Northern Regions15m
- Introduction to Aquatic Biomes27m
- Freshwater Aquatic Biomes14m
- Marine Aquatic Biomes13m
- 49. Animal Behavior28m
- 50. Population Ecology3h 41m
- Introduction to Population Ecology28m
- Population Sampling Methods23m
- Life History12m
- Population Demography17m
- Factors Limiting Population Growth14m
- Introduction to Population Growth Models22m
- Linear Population Growth6m
- Exponential Population Growth29m
- Logistic Population Growth32m
- r/K Selection10m
- The Human Population22m
- 51. Community Ecology2h 46m
- Introduction to Community Ecology2m
- Introduction to Community Interactions9m
- Community Interactions: Competition (-/-)38m
- Community Interactions: Exploitation (+/-)23m
- Community Interactions: Mutualism (+/+) & Commensalism (+/0)9m
- Community Structure35m
- Community Dynamics26m
- Geographic Impact on Communities21m
- 52. Ecosystems2h 36m
- 53. Conservation Biology24m
4. Biomolecules
Lipids
Video duration:
4mPlay a video:
Related Videos
Related Practice
Open Question
To study the effect of lipids on heart disease, researchers fed mice diets including cholesterol (Control), cholesterol with trans fatty acids (Trans), or cholesterol with cis fatty acids (Cis). After 8 weeks, they examined them for atherosclerosis—the narrowing of arteries that is a leading cause of heart attacks. Data from their observations of atherosclerotic lesions are provided below (* means 𝑃<0.05; see BioSkills 3). What do these data reveal concerning lipid structure and heart disease in mice?
40
views