Question

Differentiating between BACTERIA and ARCHAEA, which statement about their membranes is true?

a) BACTERIA: long-chain and saturated FA lipids
b) ARCHAEA: membrane forms a monolayer; C40 hydrocarbon made of repeating isoprene units

Answer 1

Archaea have fundamentally different membranes compared to Bacteria. Archaeal membranes are composed of ether linkages with branched isoprene chains, forming a monolayer.

Step-by-step explanation:

The statement b) ARCHAEA: membrane forms a monolayer; C40 hydrocarbon made of repeating isoprene units is true.

Archaea have fundamentally different membranes compared to Bacteria. Archaeal membranes are composed of ether linkages with branched isoprene chains, forming a monolayer. On the other hand, bacterial membranes are composed of ester linkages with unbranched fatty acids, forming bilayers.

Therefore, option b) accurately represents the characteristics of Archaea membranes.