The Cell: Supervised by

The cell

By:
Tarek khaleefa alwaan.

Supervised by:
Ali Hasson
INTRODUCTION

Cell is the word from Latin which is cella, meaning small room. Cell is the basic structural,
functional, and biological unit of all known living organisms. Cells are the smallest unit of life
that can replicate independently, and are often called the "building blocks of life". The study of
cells is called cell biology.
Cells consist of cytoplasm enclosed within a membrane, which contains many biomolecules such
as proteins and nucleic acids. Organisms can be classified as unicellular which is consisting of a
single cell including bacteria or multicellular including plants and animals. While the number of
cells in plants and animals varies from species to species, humans contain about 100 trillion
(1014) cells. Most plant and animal cells are visible only under the microscope, with dimensions
between 1 and 100 micrometres.
The cell was discovered by Robert Hooke in 1665, who named the biological unit for its
resemblance to cells inhabited by Christian monks in a monastery. Cell theory, first developed in
1839 by Matthias Jakob Schleiden and Theodor Schwann, states that all organisms are composed
of one or more cells, that cells are the fundamental unit of structure and function in all living
organisms, that all cells come from preexisting cells, and that all cells contain the hereditary
information necessary for regulating cell functions and for transmitting information to the next
generation of cells. Cells emerged on Earth at least 3.5 billion years ago.
CELL CAN BE DIVIDED INTO TWO CLASSES WHICH IS PROKARYOTIC CELL AND
EUKARYOTIC CELL.
PROKARYOTIC CELL
Prokaryotic cells were the first form of life on Earth, characterised by having vital biological
processes including cell signaling and being self-sustaining. They are simpler and smaller than
eukaryotic cells, and lack membrane-bound organelles such as the nucleus. Prokaryotes include
two of the domains of life, bacteria and archaea. The DNA of a prokaryotic cell consists of a
single chromosome that is in direct contact with the cytoplasm. The nuclear region in the
cytoplasm is called the nucleoid. Most prokaryotes are the smallest of all organisms ranging
from 0.5 to 2.0 µm in diameter.
EUKARYOTIC CELL
Plants, animals, fungi, slime moulds, protozoa, and algae are all eukaryotic. These cells are about
fifteen times wider than a typical prokaryote and can be as much as a thousand times greater in
volume. The main distinguishing feature of eukaryotes as compared to prokaryotes is
compartmentalization: the presence of membrane-bound organelles in which specific metabolic
activities take place. Most important among these is a cell nucleus, which is DNA are composed.
This nucleus gives the eukaryote its name, which means "true kernel (nucleus)".
SUBCELLULAR COMPONENTS
All cells, whether prokaryotic or eukaryotic, have a membrane that envelops the cell, regulates
what moves in and out (selectively permeable), and maintains the electric potential of the cell.
Inside the membrane, the cytoplasm takes up most of the cell's volume. All cells (except red
blood cells which lack a cell nucleus and most organelles to accommodate maximum space for
hemoglobin) possess DNA, the hereditary material of genes, and RNA, containing the
information necessary to build various proteins such as enzymes, the cell's primary machinery.
There are also other kinds of biomolecules in cells.
MEMBRANE
The cell membrane, or plasma membrane, is a biological membrane that surrounds the cytoplasm
of a cell. In animals, the plasma membrane is the outer boundary of the cell, while in plants and
prokaryotes it is usually covered by a cell wall. This membrane serves to separate and protect a
cell from its surrounding environment and is made mostly from a double layer of phospholipids,
which are amphiphilic (partly hydrophobic and partly hydrophilic). Hence, the layer is called a
phospholipid bilayer, or a fluid mosaic membrane. Embedded within this membrane is a variety
of protein molecules that act as channels and pumps that move different molecules into and out
of the cell. The membrane is said to be 'semi-permeable', in that it can either let a substance
(molecule or ion) pass through freely, pass through to a limited extent or not pass through at all.
Cell surface membranes also contain receptor proteins that allow cells to detect external
signaling molecules such as hormones.
CYTOSKELETON.
The cytoskeleton acts to organize and maintain the cell's shape, anchors organelles in place,
helps during endocytosis, the uptake of external materials by a cell, and cytokinesis, the
separation of daughter cells after cell division and moves parts of the cell in processes of growth
and mobility. The eukaryotic cytoskeleton is composed of microfilaments, intermediate filaments
and microtubules. There are a great number of proteins associated with them, each controlling a
cell's structure by directing, bundling, and aligning filaments. The prokaryotic cytoskeleton is
less well-studied but is involved in the maintenance of cell shape, polarity and cytokinesis. The
subunit protein of microfilaments is a small, monomeric protein called actin. The subunit of
microtubules is a dimeric molecule called tubulin. Intermediate filaments are heteropolymers
whose subunits vary among the cell types in different tissues.
GENETIC MATERIAL
Two different kinds of genetic material exist which is deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and
ribonucleic acid (RNA). Cells use DNA for their long-term information storage. The biological
information contained in an organism is encoded in its DNA sequence. RNA is used for
information transport (mRNA) and enzymatic functions (rRNA). Transfer RNA (tRNA)
molecules are used to add amino acids during protein translation.
Prokaryotic genetic material is organized in a simple circular DNA molecule (the bacterial
chromosome) in the nucleoid region of the cytoplasm. Eukaryotic genetic material is divided into
different, linear molecules called chromosomes inside a discrete nucleus, usually with additional
genetic material in some organelles like mitochondria and chloroplasts (see endosymbiotic
theory).
A human cell has genetic material contained in the cell nucleus (the nuclear genome) and in the
mitochondria (the mitochondrial genome). In humans the nuclear genome is divided into 46
linear DNA molecules called chromosomes, including 22 homologous chromosome pairs and a
pair of sex chromosomes. The mitochondrial genome is a circular DNA molecule distinct from
the nuclear DNA. Although the mitochondrial DNA is very small compared to nuclear
chromosomes, it codes for 13 proteins involved in mitochondrial energy production and specific
tRNAs.
Foreign genetic material (most commonly DNA) can also be artificially introduced into the cell
by a process called transfection. This can be transient, if the DNA is not inserted into the cell's
genome, or stable, if it is. Certain viruses also insert their genetic material into the genome.
ORGANELLES
Organelles are parts of the cell which are adapted and/or specialized for carrying out one or more
vital functions, analogous to the organs of the human body (such as the heart, lung, and kidney,
with each organ performing a different function). Both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells have
organelles, but prokaryotic organelles are generally simpler and are not membrane-bound.
There are several types of organelles in a cell. Some, such as the nucleus and golgi apparatus are
typically solitary, while others such as mitochondria, chloroplasts, peroxisomes and lysosomes
can be numerous (hundreds to thousands). The cytosol is the gelatinous fluid that fills the cell
and surrounds the organelles.

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