Membranes avoid freezing: bacteria

Membranes of some microbes continue to allow diffusion at cold temperatures by having a special fatty composition that keep them relatively fluid.

Biomimicry Taxonomy

	Maintain physical integrity >
	Protect from abiotic factors >
	Temperature

Biomimetic Application Ideas

Low temperature manufacturing; long-term freezing of materials without destruction.

> Visit strategy page

[Collapse all sections] Summary

"Bacteria have two skins, an outer one which is a stiff molecular mesh, through which molecules of food and water can diffuse fairly easily, and an inner one, elastic and membranous, which has to be very selectively permeable, so that nutrients can get in but the internal substances of the cell do not leak out. (This, by the way, is the skin which ice damages lethally; the outer layer is tougher and serves to keep out big molecules and to sustain the cell's shape). The cell membrane, as it is called, includes a lot of fat in its structure, and its permeability is very much influenced by fluidity of that fat…Psychrophiles have cell membranes of a special fatty composition, such that they are relatively fluid at temperatures near freezing point--and again they pay a price: their membranes become too fluid, and begin to melt, when the environment warms to the temperatures that most bacteria prefer." (Postgate 1994:28)

About the inspiring organism

Bacteria
Bacteria

Organism/taxonomy data provided by:
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2008 Annual Checklist

Bioinspired products and application ideas

Application Ideas: Low temperature manufacturing; long-term freezing of materials without destruction.

Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Manufacturing, health

References

Postgate, JR. 1994. The outer reaches of life. Cambridge (Great Britain): Cambridge University Press. 276 p.

Membranes avoid freezing: bacteria

Content tools

Curator of this page

Comments