Concept explainers
To explain:
The reason that why the cell membranes of microbes living in Arctic water contains more fatty acids than the membranes of microbes living in hot springs.
Introduction:
Saturated fatty acids (solid at room temperature) are those in which there is no double bond between the carbon chains and are tightly packed, as there is no gap between molecules. The unsaturated fatty acids (liquid at room temperature) are those in which double bonds are present in between carbon chain. The presence of double bond in unsaturated fatty acids contributes to the fluid nature of cell membrane as a gap in hydrocarbon chain does not allow tight packing of unsaturated fatty acids.
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