Cell Structure Flashcards
(22 cards)
What is cell biology?
The exploration and study of life, at the level of the cell and how those parts function at a molecular level.
What is a cell?
The structural and functional unit of all living organisms, and is often called the building block of life
What are the 2 main families of cells?
Prokaryotic and eukaryotic
What are the percentages of cell components?
-made up 90% of water
-the rest:
50% is protein
15% carbohydrate
15% nucleic acid
10% lipid
10% other
What are the ways of analysing cells?
- cell culture
- light microscopy
- fluorescent microscopy
- electron microscopy
Name the cells used as experimental models
- E.coli
- yeast
- dictyostelium
- nematode worm
- drosphophila
How do light microscopes work?
Fluorescence molecules absorb light at one wavelength and emit it at another.
Powerful illuminating source filtered before and after the specimen.
What is the function of the plasma membrane?
Serves as a boundary between the cell and its external environment.
– Allows materials to pass in and out of the cell.
What is the function of the nucleus?
Regulates cell function.
Surrounded by a double-layered membrane (nuclear envelope) with large pores that allow materials to pass in and out of the nucleus.
Contains chromatin – long tangles of DNA.
What is the function of nucleolus?
Found in the nucleus and responsible for ribosome production. Ribosomes are the sites of protein production.
What is the cytoplasm?
Jelly like material that surrounds the organelles
What is the 2 types of endoplasmic reticulum and what are their functions?
Folded membrane that acts as the cells delivery system
- Smooth E.R contains enzymes for lipid synthesis
- Rough E.R is studded with ribosomes for protein synthesis
What is the Golgi apparatus and what is the function?
A series of flattened sacs where newly made lipids and proteins from the E.R are repackaged and shipped to the plasma membrane
What are peroxisomes?
Membrane bound packets of oxidative enzymes
What are the vacuoles?
A sac of fluid surrounded by a membrane used to store food, fluid, or waste products
What are lysosomes?
- contain a digestive enzymes
- can fuse with vacuoles digest food, or can digest worn cells parts
What is the function of mitochondria?
- produce the energy for the cell
- highly folded inner membrane (cristae)
- fatty acid metabolism
- urea cycle
- biosynthesis of haemoglobin
What is the cytoskeleton?
A network of thin, fibrous materials that act as a scaffold and support the organelles :
microtubules- hollow filaments of protein
microfilaments- solid filaments of protein
What is cilia?
- short , numerous , hair-like projections from the plasma membrane
- move with a coordinated beating action
What are the flagella?
Longer , less numerous projections from the plasma membrane
-move with a whip-like action
What are the centrioles ?
- made of protein -tubulin
- play a role in the splitting of the cell into two cells by replicating then separating
- found in animal and fungi cells
What is a symbiotic relationship and what cell shows this?
A cell within a cell - mitochondria
