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Exercise · Q3

Q.Plasma membrane is a fluid structure due to the presence of -

(a) Carbohydrates
(b) Lipid
(c) Glycoprotein
(d) Polysaccharide
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✓ Free question

Step 1. In the fluid mosaic model, the membrane's base layer is a phospholipid bilayer, and it is this lipid component that behaves in a quasi-fluid way.

Step 2. Because the lipid bilayer is fluid, the proteins embedded within it are free to move laterally -- this capacity for movement is what is measured as the membrane's fluidity.

Step 3. Carbohydrates, glycoproteins and polysaccharides are present on the membrane surface but are not what gives the membrane its fluid character -- that role belongs to the lipid bilayer itself.

✓Final answer

(b) Lipid

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