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Sterols

sterol

(Science: chemistry) Any steroid-based alcohol having a hydrocarbon (aliphatic) side-chain of 8-10 carbons at the 17-beta position and a hydroxyl group at the 3-beta position (therfore an alcohol).

cholesterol is a sterol. Because of its hydrophilic property at the -OH end and hydrophobicity at the hydrocarbon side chain, it can be incorporated into the lipid bilayers of the cytoplasmic membrane. However, sterols only exist in the cytoplasmic membranes of eukaryotes while in prokaryotes, virtually none have sterols in their membranes except mycoplasmas, a group of cell wall-less bacteria.


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Need help with Plasma Membrane

Cholesterol may not be present (e.g. in plants), but other sterols can be. Saccharides are not exactly in the membrane, but they can be attached either to membrane proteins or the lipids.

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by JackBean
Mon Mar 19, 2012 1:35 pm
 
Forum: Cell Biology
Topic: Need help with Plasma Membrane
Replies: 4
Views: 3645

Re: What is a monomer?

... reactions sequentially adding one five-carbon unit at a time (up to six, at which point the squalene molecule starts to cyclize and form the sterols). So no, typically you don't consider the lipids to be polymers, but under some circumstances you could.

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by blcr11
Tue Jun 03, 2008 8:38 pm
 
Forum: Cell Biology
Topic: What is a monomer?
Replies: 6
Views: 13034

The Fiber Disease

... it is only the DNA particle of the bacterium, it doesn't have any organelles to process its own nutrients, so it grows by uptaking pre-formed sterols from its host cell and it literally kills the cell; the cell ruptures and what is left gets dumped into the bloodstream.*** end excerpt *** ...

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by J Jill
Sun Oct 08, 2006 4:32 pm
 
Forum: Human Biology
Topic: The Fiber Disease
Replies: 7403
Views: 4468382

Figure Search

... the detailed structure of amphiphilic molecules such as glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, phosphatidylinositols, phosphatidylcholine, and sterols to a group of high school students taking an early college course in Biology. If anyone knows where to find some without breaking copyright ...

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by DocPhD
Wed Jan 25, 2006 3:34 am
 
Forum: Cell Biology
Topic: Figure Search
Replies: 5
Views: 1970


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