Question

The lipid membrane is highly dynamic. Usually, lipids move laterally in the membrane, but occasionally, lipids can move vertically with the aid of flipases and flopases. If there was a mutation that prevented the function of flipases and flopases, what consequence do you hypothesize will occur?

Answer 1

Flippases and flloppases are lipid transporter proteins located in the plasma membrane of a cell. They are a type of ABC transporters. While flippaes move lipids from the surrounding medium to the inside (cytoplasmic side) of the cell, floppases move the lipids in the opposite direction. A mutation that inhibits the function of these two transmembrane proteins will consequently halt the transport of lipids from exoplasmic face to cytosolic face and vice versa.