Showing posts with label cell parts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cell parts. Show all posts

Cytoskeleton: The skeleton of the cell PLUS MORE

Thursday, August 13, 2020


What is the function of the cytoskeleton?

If you take a look at most drawings of a cell and the cell organelles a major component is usually missing, the cytoskeleton.


 As the name implies it is the skeleton of the cell. plus it has a couple more jobs that help keep the cell alive. 

The cytoskeleton is a network of filaments running throughout the cell. It has several different jobs in the cell.

First, it helps provide support much like your skeleton provides support for you.

Second, it provides tracks or highways for the movement of vesicles and other objects in the cell.

Third, the cytoskeleton helps pull the chromosomes apart during mitosis and even helps the cell move. Some single-cell organisms move using cilia made up of cytoskeleton filament.

 

The cytoskeleton consists of three types of fibers, microfilaments, intermediate filaments, and microtubules.


Types cytoskeleton


Microfilaments are fine, thread-like protein fibers. They are composed predominantly of a protein called actin. These filaments create service highways for the vesicles that need to be moved in the cell and may hold organelles in place.

 

Intermediate filaments are medium in length and help maintain the shape of the cell.

For example, a red blood cell has a unique donut shape and the cytoskeleton filaments help produce this unique shape.


Microtubules are the largest filaments and also create tracks for proteins. Think of the microtubules as roads in the cell They also help pull the chromosomes apart during anaphase.

Microtubules also help with the movement of the entire cell by

helping to create flagella or cilia that help propel certain cells.


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Function of Lysosomes

Sunday, July 5, 2020

Here is the same video without MUSIC

Lysosomes

What is the function of a Lysosome?

Lysosomes are organelles found inside eukaryotic cells like, animals, protists, but not in prokaryotic cells. They are important because lysosomes help break down old cell parts, digest materials in the cell, and objects that enter the cell.

Lysosomes have a single membrane and are filled with digestive enzymes. A lysosome is created at the Golgi apparatus.

Lysosome

The proteins of the lysosome are created at the rough ER and are packed in a vesicle that is transported to the Golgi apparatus. The Golgi apparatus uses these proteins to make digestive enzymes and creates a vesicle that pinches off. This vesicle is a lysosome

Lysosomes are found floating in the cytoplasm. When materials are brought into the cell, lysosomes can attach to these objects and begin to break them down. Since lysosomes are digestion machines, they go to work when the cell absorbs or eats some food. For example when an amoeba engulfs a paramecium.

Once the material is inside the cell, the lysosomes attach and release their enzymes. The enzymes break down complex molecules that can include complex sugars and proteins.

Lysosomes will also break down other organelles like mitochondria if the cell does not have any food or the mitochondria is working improperly. Lysosomes will even digest bacteria that enters the cell.

There is some debate about if lysosomes are found in plant cells. Most people feel the role of the lysosome is carried out by vacuoles in plants, some scientists feel that plants do have lysosomes. 
Here is a short article that explains this briefly.




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10 Interesting facts about Mitochondria

Tuesday, April 21, 2020




Mitochondria are essential for the production of proteins, RNA, pumps, and several other essential processes in the cell.  Mitochondria are amazing and cool.
They are found in plants... animals,....fungi,.....protists, and any other eukaryotic cell.

Let's Learn 10 Facts about Mitochondria
1. They can quickly change shape and move around the cell when needed.

2. When the cell needs more energy, the mitochondria can reproduce by growing larger and then dividing. For example, say you want to get in shape. As you exercise more of the mitochondria in your muscles will increase in number and navigate to the edges of the cell, which allows these muscle cells to have more energy.

3. If the cell needs less energy, some mitochondria will die or become inactive. 

4. Mitochondria are very similar to some bacteria. For this reason, some scientists think that they originally were bacteria that were absorbed by more complex cells. This theory is called endosymbiosis.

5. During cellular respiration, with the help of oxygen, the mitochondria produce 25 ATP compared to only 3 ATP produced during glycolysis in the cytoplasm.

6. ATP is continuously broken down into ADP, like a rechargeable battery, and releases a huge amount of energy which is used by the cell in several metabolic processes as well as in building macromolecules such as proteins.

7. ATP is critical for the contraction of muscles.

8. ATP supplies the energy to move the contractile muscle proteins.

9. ATP is essential for certain pumps like the sodium-potassium pumps and calcium pumps. The sodium-potassium pump ensures that our cells have the correct amount of sodium and potassium which is essential to stay alive.

10. The adenosine from ATP is a building block of RNA and is directly added to RNA molecules. During Transcription DNA is copied to mRNA, which carries the information needed to make proteins. 

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25 facts about the nucleus of a cell

Tuesday, November 22, 2016


If you take a human cheek cell and stain it, then look at the cell under a compound microscope you will see a dark circle inside the cell. This dark circle is the organelle called the nucleus. The nucleus is often described as the control center of the cell, or the brain of the cell. 


Enjoy this list of twenty-five facts about the nucleus.

1. The nucleus was the first cell organelle discovered. In the late 1600s, Antonie von Leeuwenhoek discovered the nucleus in the blood skin cells of fish.


2. In the 1800s Robert Brown found the nucleus in plant cells.


3. The word nucleus is derived from a Latin word nucleus which means 'kernel'.

4. The nucleus is a double membrane-bound organelle present in eukaryotic cells.

5. DNA and RNA are found in the nucleus.

6. The nucleus regulates the heredity characteristics of an organism.   

7. The nucleus also stores proteins and ribonucleic acid (RNA) in the nucleolus.

8. The starting point of protein synthesis which is called transcription begins in the nucleus.

9. The nucleus is a sizable organelle. In  fact, you can see the nucleus with a simple compound microscope.

10. The nucleus is surrounded by a nuclear membrane. This membrane is very similar to the cell membrane, and it is constructed of two layers.

11. The nuclear membrane protects and surrounds the additional parts of the nucleus.

12. You can also find ribosomes on the exterior of the nuclear membrane.

13. On the surface of the nuclear membrane, you will find openings called nuclear pores. After transcription, the messenger RNA travels out of the nucleus through a nuclear pore.

14. Inside the nuclear membrane is a gel-like material.The DNA (chromatin) is suspended in this watery material called the nucleoplasm.

15. Inside the nuclear membrane, you will find the nucleolus. It  is almost like a nucleus inside the nucleus. It has a very high concentration of RNA and is the site of transcription which is the starting point of protein synthesis.

16. The nucleus controls the cell because it houses the DNA. The nucleus uses this information as a blueprint to make stuff like proteins for the cell.

17. Ribosomes are actually made in the nucleolus.

18. All eukaryotic cells possess a nucleus and bacteria and other prokaryotic cells do not possess a nucleus.

19. When the cell is in a resting condition called interphase, there is something called chromatin in the nucleus.

20. DNA and RNA are actually the nucleic acids inside of the nucleus.

21. When the cell is going to divide, the chromatin condenses.

22. When the chromatin finishes condensing, you can see the chromosomes.

23. It is responsible for protein synthesis, cell division, and cell differentiation.

24. Bacteria do not have an organized nucleus.

25. There are openings on the nuclear membrane. They enable objects like the Mrna to travel in and out of the nucleus.


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