Beetroot practical wright up

MATILDA MASCALL

THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON THE MOVEMENT OF PIGMENT THROUGH CELL MEMBRANES

INTRODUCTION

Why use beetroot?

Anthocyanin

Beetroot contains the pigment Anthocyanin that is responsible for the red, purple, and blue colours of many fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, and flowers. The pigment is found in the cell vacuoles

Membrane structure

Fluid mosaic model

The fluid-mosaic model describes the plasma membrane of animal cells. The plasma membrane that surrounds these cells a phospholipid (fats with phosphorous attached, which at body temperature are like vegetable oil) bilayer (fluid), a biological membrane. Each phospholipid molecule has a hydrophobic tail that forms the inside of the bilayer and a hydrophilic head, one on each layer of the membrane facing outwards. Cholesterol and other protein substances become embedded in the bilayer and because plasma membrane is similar to vegetable oil in consistency substances are able to move across it. This is the basic structure of a fluid mosaic model.

However the embedded molecules also serve a purpose. Cholesterol stabilizes the membrane and prevents it from solidifying in low body temperatures. Attached to each cell are carbohydrate chains which hold the characteristics for blood type and are specific to each person.

How does temperature affect membrane permeability?

When the beetroot sample is heated the membranes are disrupted. There are several membranes inside a cell, one is the cell surface plasma membrane, and others may surround vacuoles usually you will find that about 70% of a cell membrane is protein. When you heat a substance the molecules gain energy and the water in the substance will expand, which will disrupt the membrane. Additionally, lipids become more fluid as temperature increases making the membranes fragile, Proteins will also begin to denature. Overall these three effects…