[Temperature-dependent structural rearrangements in the cytoplasmic membranes of Escherichia coli cells].

By the freeze-etching method, in has been shown that E. coli plasma membranes undergo a structural transition in the range of temperatures within 0 and 20 degrees C which could be observed as redistribution of intramembrane particles with free-zone formation. The onset of temperature interval of this transition (20 degrees) well correlate with the break in the Arrhenius curves characterizing the cell membrane permeability for free nucleotides and for respiration intensity.