ABI Bioinformatics Guide 2024
  • INTRODUCTION
    • How to use the guide
  • MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
    • The Cell
      • Cells and Their Organelles
      • Cell Specialisation
      • Quiz 1
    • Biological Molecules
      • Carbohydrates
      • Lipids
      • Nucleic Acids (DNA and RNA)
      • Quiz 2
      • Proteins
      • Catalysis of Biological Reactions
      • Quiz 3
    • Information Flow in the Cell
      • DNA Replication
      • Gene Expression: Transcription
      • Gene Expression: RNA Processing
      • Quiz 4
      • Chromatin and Chromosomes
      • Regulation of Gene Expression
      • Quiz 5
      • The Genetic Code
      • Gene Expression: Translation
    • Cell Cycle and Cell Division
      • Quiz 6
    • Mutations and Variations
      • Point mutations
      • Genotype-Phenotype Interactions
      • Quiz 7
  • PROGRAMMING
    • Python for Genomics
    • R programming (optional)
  • STATISTICS: THEORY
    • Introduction to Probability
      • Conditional Probability
      • Independent Events
    • Random Variables
      • Independent, Dependent and Controlled Variables
    • Data distribution PMF, PDF, CDF
    • Mean, Variance of a Random Variable
    • Some Common Distributions
    • Exploratory Statistics: Mean, Median, Quantiles, Variance/SD
    • Data Visualization
    • Confidence Intervals
    • Comparison tests, p-value, z-score
    • Multiple test correction: Bonferroni, FDR
    • Regression & Correlation
    • Dimentionality Reduction
      • PCA (Principal Component Analysis)
      • t-SNE (t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding)
      • UMAP (Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection)
    • QUIZ
  • STATISTICS & PROGRAMMING
  • BIOINFORMATICS ALGORITHMS
    • Introduction
    • DNA strings and sequencing file formats
    • Read alignment: exact matching
    • Indexing before alignment
    • Read alignment: approximate matching
    • Global and local alignment
  • NGS DATA ANALYSIS & FUNCTIONAL GENOMICS
    • Experimental Techniques
      • Polymerase Chain Reaction
      • Sanger (first generation) Sequencing Technologies
      • Next (second) Generation Sequencing technologies
      • The third generation of sequencing technologies
    • The Linux Command-line
      • Connecting to the Server
      • The Linux Command-Line For Beginners
      • The Bash Terminal
    • File formats, alignment, and genomic features
      • FASTA & FASTQ file formats
      • Basic Unix Commands for Genomics
      • Sequences and Genomic Features Part 1
      • Sequences and Genomic Features Part 2: SAMtools
      • Sequences and Genomic Features Part 3: BEDtools
    • Genetic variations & variant calling
      • Genomic Variations
      • Alignment and variant detection: Practical
      • Integrative Genomics Viewer
      • Variant Calling with GATK
    • RNA Sequencing & Gene expression
      • Gene expression and how we measure it
      • Gene expression quantification and normalization
      • Explorative analysis of gene expression
      • Differential expression analysis with DESeq2
      • Functional enrichment analysis
    • Single-cell Sequencing and Data Analysis
      • scRNA-seq Data Analysis Workflow
      • scRNA-seq Data Visualization Methods
  • FINAL REMARKS
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  • Fats
  • Phospholipids
  • Steroids
  • Summary

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  1. MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
  2. Biological Molecules

Lipids

PreviousCarbohydratesNextNucleic Acids (DNA and RNA)

Last updated 11 months ago

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Lipids are a diverse group of biological molecules that do not mix with water. The key groups of lipids encompass fats, phospholipids, steroids and waxes. Lipids serve energy storage functions, are the major components of biological membranes, and act as precursors for hormones.

Many lipids can be synthesised by human cells. However, some essential lipids such as omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids have to be obtained from diet.

Fats

A typical fat molecule is a triglyceride consisting of a glycerol part and three fatty acid tails. The long fatty acid tails provide fats with their hydrophobic properties.

In animals, fats serve as long-term energy storage molecules. Fats are mainly deposited in adipose tissue cells that provide thermal insulation and cushion the body's organs.

Phospholipids

Phospholipids are the key components of cell membranes. Phospholipids are structurally similar to fats but only have two fatty acid tails. Instead of the third tail, phospholipids have a negatively charged phosphate group. This arrangement results in a dual nature: a strongly hydrophobic part ("tails") that repels water and a hydrophilic part ("head") that attracts water.

In an aqueous environment, phospholipids tend to form a bilayer: the hydrophilic heads face outward, interacting with water, while the hydrophobic tails are concealed within. Phospholipid bilayers comprise the plasma membrane and the internal membranes of eukaryotic cells.

Steroids

Steroids are lipid molecules that have four fused hydrocarbon rings. A typical steroid is cholesterol – the component of animal cell membranes and a precursor of such hormones as estradiol and testosterone.


Summary

The videos below provide the summary of the topic and some additional details:

Some dietary sources of essential lipids
Fats are synthesised by dehydration synthesis Image source: OpenStax College - Anatomy & Physiology, Connexions Web site. http://cnx.org/content/col11496/1.6/, Jun 19, 2013., CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30131156
Fat is stored in adipose tissue cells Image source: OpenStax College - Anatomy & Physiology, Connexions Web site. http://cnx.org/content/col11496/1.6/, Jun 19, 2013., CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30131287
The structure of a phospholipid Image source: OpenStax - https://cnx.org/contents/FPtK1zmh@8.25:fEI3C8Ot@10/Preface, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30131167
Phospholipid bilayer Image source: OpenStax - https://cnx.org/contents/FPtK1zmh@8.25:fEI3C8Ot@10/Preface, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30131169
Cholesterol