Question

Predict which of the following organisms will have the highest percentage of

unsaturated fatty acids in their membranes. Which will have the lowest percentage? Explain your answer in a sentence or two.

Antarctic fish

Desert Iguana

Polar Bear

Thermophilic Bacterium

Answer 1

Antarctic fish have the highest percentage of unsturated fatty acids in their membrane.

Thermophillic bacteria has the lowest percentage of unsturated fatty acids in their membrane.

Unsaturated fatty acids have double bonds between them. These double bonds make kinks which are required when the temperature are cold. In cold temperature cell membranes lipid structures are tend to lose their fluidity and can become rigid but fortunately that does not happen because of presence of double bonds. The kinks make the gaps between the lipid tails which mainatin the fluidity of membrane. Antarctic fishes are cold blooded and lives in ice-cold water, so they need unsaturated fatty acids most, while the perecntage of double bonds in thermophilic bacteria was lowest.

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