Biological membranes are important to cells because they help maintain order within a cell by containing the cellular material. Membranes mainly consist of a phospholipid bilayer, which is composed of lipids and proteins. Specific functions of the membranes can vary depending on the cell type and the type of organism. In the membrane of beet plants there is a vacuole found in the plant cells called the tonoplast. The tonoplast usually contains water and also contains red pigment call Betacyanin, which gives the beet its characteristic color. We decided to use beets in this lab because the Betacyanin can be used as an easy indicator to see if membrane is damaged. In this experiment we tested the effect of the three different alcohols, ethanol,
