Davson–Danielli model

In 1935, Hugh Davson and James Danielli proposed a model of the cell membrane in which the phospholipid bilayer lay between two layers of globular protein^[1]. The phosopholipid bilayer had already been proposed by Gorter and Grendel in 1925^[2], but the Davson–Danielli model's flanking proteinaceous layers were novel and intended to explain Danielli's observations on the surface tension of lipid bilayers. (It is now known that the phospholipid head groups are sufficient to explain the measured surface tension^[3].) The Davson–Danielli model predominated until Singer and Nicolson advanced the fluid mosaic model in 1972^[4]. The fluid mosaic model expanded on the Davson–Danielli model by including transmembrane proteins, and eliminated the previously-proposed flanking protein layers that were not well-supported by experimental evidence.

1. ^ Danielli JF, Davson H (1935). A contribution to the theory of permeability of thin films. J. Cell. Comp. Phys. 5(4): 495.
2. ^ Gorter E, Grendel F (1925). On bimolecular layers of lipoids on the chromocytes of the blood. JEM 41:493
3. ^ Wells WA (2005). The invention of freeze fracture EM and the determination of membrane structure. JCB 162(8): 174-175.
4. ^ Singer SJ, Nicolson GL. The Fluid Mosaic Model of the Structure of Cell Membranes. Science 175(4023): 720-731.