What Revolutionized Our Understanding of the Phospholipid Bilayer?

💡 The Answer

• The fluid mosaic model by Singer and Nicolson in 1972 described proteins floating in a fluid bilayer.
• It replaced the earlier Davson-Danielli model, which assumed a static protein-lipid sandwich.
• Freeze-fracture electron microscopy later revealed proteins embedded and moving within the bilayer.
• This model remains the foundation for studying membrane dynamics, signaling, and trafficking.