When biological membranes are frozen and then fractured, they tend to break along the middle of the bilayer. The best explanation for this is that
A) the integral membrane proteins are not strong enough to hold the bilayer together.
B) water that is present in the middle of the bilayer freezes and is easily fractured.
C) hydrophilic interactions between the opposite membrane surfaces are destroyed on freezing.
D) the carbon-carbon bonds of the phospholipid tails are easily broken.
E) the hydrophobic interactions that hold the membrane together are weakest at this point.
Biological investigation at different levels
About to break the surface for air at Kona, Hawaii
Common hydrogen bonds in biological systems
Frozen pond
Phosphorus in Phospholipids Phosphorus makes up part of the phospholipids found in cell membranes
Biological control agent: a commercially raised parasitoid wasp about to deposit a fertilized egg in