The most abundant lipid of the membrane consists of a head and two tails. This type of lipid is:

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The question asks to identify the most abundant lipid of the membrane that has a head and two tails.
Option 1: cholesterol. While cholesterol is a major membrane component and lipid, it has a four-ring sterol structure with a small hydroxyl head, not the typical head-and-two-tail design described, so it does not match the classic phospholipid structure.
Option 2: glycolipid. Glycolipids contain a carbohydrate (sugar) group on the extracellular face, linked to a lipid, but their backbone can be a sphingolipid or glycerolipid; the typical membrane-forming lipid with a head and two tails is not defined by a sugar-containing head, making this option inconsistent with the described structure.
Option 3: phospholipid. This option fits precisely: phospholipids have a polar hydrophilic head group and two hydrophobic tails (usually fatty acids) attached to a glycerol backbone, yielding the classic head-and-two-tails architecture that dominates the lipid bilayer.
Option 4: glycoprotein. Glycoproteins are proteins with carbohydrate chains; they are not lipids and do not possess a head-and-two-tail lipid structure, so they do not describe a membrane lipid molecule.
In summary, the defining features described—polar head group and two hydrophobic tails—align with phospholipids, making Option 3 the correct choice. The other options either describe different lipid types with distinct structural features or refer to non-lipid macromolecules, which do not match the given description.

BIOL-2401-099 Final Exam- Requires Respondus LockDown Browser

The most abundant lipid of the membrane consists of a head and two tails. This type of lipid is:

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