Question

what happens if the plasma membrane is not flexible ​

Answer 1

Answer:

If the plasma membrane wasn’t flexible the cells would not be able to change shape, they would be rigid. This is not like plant cells, which can change shape through acidification of their cell walls but further more akin to what happens to Red Blood Cells due to Haemophilia. Unable to alter their shape or flex, they are less able to adapt to their environmental pressures and move through small gaps. In fact, they wouldn’t be able to move at all without some sort of flagellum. They would also not be able to form complex shapes, reducing their ability to adapt but also lowering their surface area to volume ratio.

Secondly, loss of membrane fluidity would affect the movement of membrane proteins, the so-called fluid mosaic model, which allows proteins to move into, out of, through and around the plasma membrane. This is important for secretion of cellular products, cell-to-cell communication, and internalisation of extracellular objects especially those requiring a co-receptor (think HIV and CD4 needing it’s co-receptor CCR5 in close proximity for internalisation of the virus). Once again, these features allow the cell to interact with it’s environment.

Without this flexible characteristic of plasma membranes life would not have been able to evolve or develop to the level of complexity that we see throughout the different kingdoms. Arguably, evolution and natural selection prohibited this type of membrane from developing.

One final thing to remember, membrane fluidity does vary from organism to organism. A good example is Thermophilic bacteria that can survive in temperatures between 41 and 122 degrees Celsius. At these temperatures Human cell membranes would be disrupted and the cells would burst, however these bacteria create membranes that are very different. Thermophilic membranes are monolayers (rather than bilayers), contain ether linkages (rather than ester linkages) and contain fatty acids that typical more branched, heavily saturated and have a higher molecular weight than those found in ‘normal’ Eukaryotic plasma membranes.

you can right in short hope it is helpful

thank you

Answer 2

Answer:

If the plasma membrane will not be flexible then the cells would be unable to change its shape and size. It would become rigid.

Due to this inflexibility there would be various effect in its cells.