Question

While culturing some cells, you increase the temperature of the culture. What happens immediately to the membrane fluidity?

1) nothing happens
2) the membrane becomes less fluid
3) the membrane becomes more fluid
4) the membrane fluidity fluctuates back and forth from high to low

Answer 1

Upon increasing the temperature of a cell culture’s environment, the cell membrane will become more fluid as a result of increased kinetic energy impacting the lipids within the membrane.

Step-by-step explanation:

When you increase the temperature of the culture, the membrane becomes more fluid. This is due to the fact that the lipids within the cell membrane have more kinetic energy, which ultimately causes the phospholipids to move more and become less tightly packed. A cell membrane's fluidity is crucial as it allows for the proper function and transit of materials through the membrane. Organisms, such as a bacterium like E. coli adapt to environmental temperature changes by adjusting their membrane's characteristics.

For instance, in high-temperature environments, the cell membranes contain lipids with longer hydrocarbon chains and tend to be more saturated to maintain fluidity appropriate for cell functions.