Question

The plasma membranes in cells obtained from a new deep-sea life form appear as dark lines separated by a lightly stained region in an electron micrograph. Which investigator used a similar observation as the basis for a model of membrane structure?

a) Watson and Crick
b) Franklin and Wilkins
c) Singer and Nicolson
d) Davson and Danielli

Answer 1

S. J. Singer and Garth L. Nicolson used observations similar to the dark lines in an electron micrograph to propose the fluid mosaic model of the plasma membrane in 1972.

Step-by-step explanation:

The investigator who based a model of membrane structure on similar observations of dark lines separated by lightly stained regions in an electron micrograph was S. J. Singer and Garth L. Nicolson. They proposed the fluid mosaic model in 1972, which described the structure of the plasma membrane as a fluid mosaic of components including phospholipids, cholesterol, proteins, and carbohydrates. The fluid mosaic model accounts for the structure and functions of the plasma membrane as we now understand them, and it replaced the static view of the trilamellar models of membrane structure suggested by earlier models such as the Davson-Danielli model.