Cellular membranes.

If you have ever cooked fresh beets, you know how m uch beet pigment pours out of cut beets into the cooking wat er. The color is due to betacyanin in the cells. Similarly, the color of red onions is due to pigments (including anthocyanin) in a thin layer of cells. In both cases, the pigments are enclosed in membrane-b ound vacuoles inside the cells, and we can observe membr ane function by observing pigment movement. In this laboratory, we will explore the nature of cellular membranes and how en viro mental conditions affect their function using beets and re d onions as experimental organisms.