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transmembrane

transmembrane

7.4
A part of a protein that goes through a cell membrane
  • noun
  • /trænzˈmɛmˌbreɪn/
  • Specialized
translation icon : segmento transmembrana
  • Many transmembrane proteins play a crucial role in signaling between cells.
  • cystic fibrosis transmembrane
  • transmembrane regulator
  • transmembrane conductance

Examples

  • The structure of a transmembrane segment determines how a protein interacts with its environment.

  • Researchers study transmembrane domains to understand how proteins function in cellular processes.

  • OK, So I'm not going to write that out, but this is really sort of a single transmembrane Helix.

  • So I'll just tell you quite briefly that ion channels are these very massive transmembrane proteins.

  • And some of them are notoriously difficult, for example, transmembrane proteins, proteins that that sit in the, in the membranes of the cell.

  • IFITM1 is a 17-kDa transmembrane protein coded on the short arm of chromosome 11.

    Academic text (2017)
  • There is a salt bridge in the 7 transmembrane G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) between an acid and amine—why not an ester?

    Blog text (27)
  • ACE is primarily located on cell membranes via a carboxy-terminal transmembrane domain (Box 1) and is therefore localized to specific tissues, but a cleaved, active form of the enzyme is also present in the circulation.

    Academic text (2018)

Compounds

A gene making a membrane protein that controls salt and water in lung cells and whose mutations cause cystic fibrosis

Surface Forms

transmembrane singular

Morphology

transmembrane = membrane (transparent) = trans + membrane

The meaning is directly compositional: 'trans-' means across or through, and 'membrane' is the biological structure being spanned.

Etymology

Transmembrane comes from trans- 'across' and membrane 'skin of a cell', so as a noun it names a part of a protein that goes across the cell membrane.