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Membrane Fluidity

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State

A membrane's fluidity depends on how tightly its phospholipid tails pack, and unsaturated tails, kinked by double bonds, pack more loosely than saturated ones.

Show

A cold environment compresses membranes rich in saturated fatty acids toward rigidity; unsaturated tails hold space open to stay fluid.

Watch for

Fluidity is a property of the whole membrane's packing, not one phospholipid molecule alone.