Lamella (cell biology)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Lamella (disambiguation).

A lamella (pl.: lamellae) in biology refers to a thin layer, membrane or plate of tissue.[1] This is a very broad definition, and can refer to many different structures. Any thin layer of organic tissue can be called a lamella and there is a wide array of functions an individual layer can serve. For example, an intercellular lipid lamella is formed when lamellar disks fuse to form a lamellar sheet. It is believed that these disks are formed from vesicles, giving the lamellar sheet a lipid bilayer that plays a role in water diffusion.[2]

Another instance of cellular lamellae can be seen in

Thylakoid membranes are actually a system of lamellar membranes working together, and are differentiated into different lamellar domains. This lamellar system allows plants to convert light energy into chemical energy.[3] Chloroplasts are characterized by a system of membranes embedded in a hydrophobic proteinaceous matrix, or stroma. The basic unit of the membrane system is a flattened single vesicle called the thylakoid; thylakoids stack into grana. All the thylakoids of a granum are connected with each other, and the grana are connected by intergranal lamellae.[4]

It is placed between the two primary cell walls of two plant cells and made up of intracellular matrix. The lamella comprises a mixture of polygalacturons (D-galacturonic acid) and neutral carbohydrates. It is soluble in the pectinase enzyme.

Lamella, in cell biology, is also used to describe the leading edge of a motile cell, of which the

lamellipodia is the most forward portion.[5]

The

biological membranes is also called lamellar phase.[6] Thus, each bilayer of multilamellar liposomes and wall of a unilamellar liposome
is also referred to as a lamella.

See also


References

  1. ^ Merriam-webster.com. (2017). Definition of LAMELLA. [online] Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lamella
  2. PMID 2918233
    .
  3. PMID 16055630
    .
  4. ^ Oxford Dictionary of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Oxford University Press[page needed]
  5. ^ "The Cytoskeleton and Cell Migration - Lamellipodia".
  6. S2CID 4416985
    .

Further reading
Stub icon

This cell biology article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lamella_(cell_biology)&oldid=1168763537"