Biology 9700 · AS & A Level · Fluid mosaic membranes

Fluid mosaic membranes — practice question

In an experiment, fluorescent dyes were used to tag proteins on the outer surface of cell surface membranes. Living human cells were marked with one colour of fluorescent dye and mouse cells with a different colour of fluorescent dye. A human cell and a mouse cell are then fused to make a hybrid cell. Initially, the two fluorescent labels stay separate, but after 40 minutes they are spread at random across the hybrid cell surface membrane. What does this experiment show?

  • AProteins are found only on the outer surface of cell surface membranes.
  • BProteins in the outer layer of a bilayer do not penetrate into the inner layer.
  • CProteins move freely in the phospholipids of a bilayer.
  • DThe cell surface membranes of the two cells are bilayers.

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