Question

Suppose you treated butter with a fatty acid desaturase, an enzyme that removes hydrogen from fatty acids and creates double bonds. what would happen?

Answer 1

When a butter is treated with fatty acid desaturase, the hydrogen atom will be removed and form a carbon double bond, which allow the membrane to become more fluid. When temperatures change, a phase transition occurs. If the temperature decrease, the membrane gels becomes solid which then results to cracks and the imbedded proteins cannot partake in conformational changes, thus it is important to maintain membrane fluidity.