Chapter 4: Cell Structure
Review: (November 1, 2022)
4.1: Studying Cells
Intro:
● Cells are the building blocks that our body is composed of and also all organisms.
● There are many kinds of cells each specialized for a specific purpose.
● Human body is constructed from many cell types.
Examples: Book pages 161
● Each of the Cell types play a vital role during the growth, development, and ongoing
maintenance of the body.
● Cells share certain fundamental characteristics.
● FIrst comes the stem cells which is a cell that has not undergone the changes involved
in specialization.
● May differentiate to become one of many different specialized cells and it may divide to
produce more stem cells.
● Once a cell becomes specialized, it remains that way.
Cells:
● The smallest unit of a living thing.
● There are living things made out of one cell(bacteria) there are others which are made
out of many cells(human) are called organisms.
● Tissue - when several cells of one kind interconnect with each other and share the same
function.
● Several tissues - organ(stomach, heart, brain)
● Several organs - organ system(digestive system,circulatory system , nervous system)
● Several systems working together - organism(human being)
● Cells classified in prokaryotes(bacteria) and eukaryotes(plants, animals, humans.
Microscopy:
● Cells cannot be seen with naked eye so scientists use microscopes to study them.
● Microscope - instrument that magnifies an object
● Photos taken from microscope - micrographs.
● Microscopes use two sets of lenses to magnify the image.
● Manner live travels through lenses , two lenses produce inverted images.
● Magnification - how big can you see things.
● Resolution - the capacity to see that both points are separated in the space.
● Higher resolution better clarity.
Light Microscope:
● Microscope used by most students.
● Visible light passes through and is bent through the lens system to enable the user to
see the specimen.
● Advantageous for viewing living organisms.
● Special stains - needed to see individual cells since they are usually transparent and
components are not distinguishable. They usually kill cells.
● Magnifies up to 400 times .
● Oil immersion lenses used for small objects - 1,000 times magnification.
Electron Microscopes:
● Use a beam of electrons instead of a beam of light.
● Beam of electron- higher magnification(more detail), higher resolving power.
● Method use for electron microscope - kills specimen
● Because they have short wavelengths (shorter than photons) move best in vacuum,
living cells cannot be viewed through them.
● Use for better understanding of cellular structure and function is used by scientists.
● Scanning - a beam of electrons moves back and forth across the cell's surfaces, creating
details of cell surface characteristics.
● Transmission - the electron bea, penetrates the cell and provides detail of its internal
structure.
● More expensive and bulky.
Cell Theory:
Anthony van Lee:
● Dutch shopkeeper
● The microscopes we use today are more complex than the ones he made.
● Great skill in creating lenses.
● First person to have observed microorganism( animalcules)
Robert Hooke:
● Used the term cell because el cuarto de un majasterio se llamaba cell.
Mathics Scheleiden(botanist), Theodor Schawn (zoologist)
● Proposed the cell theory.
● Cell theory - states that all living things are composed of one or more cells, the basic
unit of life, and new cells arise from existing cells.(Rudolf Virchow - important
contribution to it.)
4.2 Prokaryotic Cells:
Intro:
● Small size - large surface area - to volume ratio enables a more efficient exchange of
nutrients and wastes with the environment.
● Three basic types of cells are archaea , bacteria(prokaryotes) and eukaryotes(animals,
plants, fungi, and protists).
Features that cells share:
● Plasma membrane - separate the cell from the environment.
● Cytoplasm - jelly like cytosol inside the cell.
● Ribosomes - important for the synthesis of proteins.
● DNA - to store and transmit hereditary information.
Prokaryotes:
● Simple single cells (unicellular) organism and lacks membrane - bound organelles.
● Cell wall - acts as an extra layer of protection against the external environment.
● Don’t have a nucleus.
● Nucleoid - DNA exists as a single circular chromosome in the central part of the cells.
Contains DNA and RNA
● Circular DNA plasmids - often carry genes for resistance to antibiotics.
Common prokaryotic cell features:
● Flagella - used for locomotion(cell movement).
● Pili - allows it to capture food and more, exchange genetic material during a type of
reproduction.
● Fimbriae - used by batería to attach to a host cell.
● Most have: peptidoglycan(protein) cell wall and many have a polysaccharide (sugar )
capsule.
● Cell wall: extra layer of protection , maintains the cell’s shape, and prevents dehydration.
● Capsule - enables the cell to attach to the surface in the environment.
● Smaller than eukaryotes. 0.1 to 5.0 diameter - prokaryotes, 10 to 100 μm - eukaryotes.
● Small size - allows ions and organic molecules that enter to quickly diffuse to other parts
of the cell. Same as wastes produced in them. While eukaryotes developed different
structural adaptations to enhance intracellular transport.
● Small size needed for all cell pro and euk.
● Not all cells are spherical shape but tend to approximate that shape.
● As a cell increases in size, its surface area-to-volume ratio decreases. Same as if the
cell was shaped like a cube.
● As the cell grows become less efficient since the plasma membrane will not have
sufficient surface area to support the rate of diffusion required for the increase in
volume.
● Ways for the cell to become more efficient; divide or to develop organelles that perform
specific tasks.(this lead to the formation of eukaryotes)
● Cell size - important for survival.
● Cells sphere shape because they have the largest surface area-to-volume ratio.
● Sphere shape - nutrients would travel the least distance to reach the center as nutrients
diffuse in the cell.
● Importance; nutrients and wastes are always exchanged at the periphery of the cell and
shorter the distance nutrients and wastes have to travel, the fas
● shorter the distance nutrients and wastes have to travel - the faster the exchange of
these molecules are.
● Not all cells are spherical in shape, but most tend to approximate a sphere.
4.3 Eukaryotic Cells:
● Have a nucleus with a double membrane that encloses DNA.
● Tend to be larger and have a variety of membrane-bound organelles that perform
specific, compartmentalization functions.
● Evolved from prokaryotic ancestors. (example: mitochondria and chloroplasts feature
characteristics of independently living in the body.)
● Theory of mitochondria: was once an Arkea
● Come in all shapes and sizes.
● Have a plasma membrane , cytoplasm , ribosomes, and DNA.( similar to prokaryotes).
● Organelles - bound by membranes composed of phospholipids bilayers embedded with
proteins to compartmentalism functions such as the storage of hydrolysis enzymes and
the synthesis of proteins.
Organelles and their functions:
● Nucleus houses DNA , the nucleolus within nucleus: site of ribosome assembly.
Functional ribosomes are found either free in the cytoplasm or attached to the rough
endoplasmic reticulum where they perform protein synthesis.
● Golgi apparatus - receives, modifies, and packages small molecules like lipids and
proteins distribution.
● Mitochondria, chloroplast - participate in free energy capture and transfer through the
processes of cellular respiration and photosynthesis, respectively.
● Peroxisomes oxidize fatty acids and amino acids, and they are equipped to break down
hydrogen peroxide formed from these reactions without letting it into the cytoplasm
where it can cause damage.
● Vesicles and vacuoles - store substances, and in plant cells, the central vacuole stores
pigments, salts, minerals, nutrients, proteins, and degradation enzymes and helps
maintain rigidity.
● Animal cells have centrosomes and lysosomes but lack cell walls.
————————————————————————————————
Eukaryotic cells:
● Membrane bound nucleus.
● Numerous membrane bound organelles(endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus,
chloroplasts, mitochondria, and others)
● several, rod-shaped chromosomes.
● Organelles - specialized cellular functions. ( like organs in the body).
Plasma membrane:
● Both prokaryotes and eukaryotes have it.
● Plasma membrane - a phospholipid bilayer with embedded proteins that separates the
internal contents of the cell from its surrounding environment
● Controls the passage of organic molecules, ions, water, and oxygen into and out of the
cell.
● Wastes (such as carbon dioxide and ammonia) also leave the cell by passing through
the plasma membrane.
● Microvilli - specialize in absorption and are folded into fingerlike projections.(made out of
the same phospholipid membrane and if it stretches it becomes very large).
● Small intestine - where microvilli are found, and absorbs the nutrients from the digested
food.
Cytoplasm:
● Region between the plasma membrane and the nuclear envelope.
● Made out of organelles suspended in the gel-like cytosol, the cytoskeleton, and various
chemicals.
● Consist of 70-80% water but has a semi-solid consistency(from proteins within it).
Organic molecules found in it:
● Proteins
● GlucoseI and other simple sugars, polysaccharides, amino acids, nucleic acids, fatty
acids, and derivatives of glycerol.
● Dissolved in cytoplasm:Ions of sodium, potassium, calcium, and many other elements.
● Metabolic reactions like photosynthesis occurs in the cytoplasm.
Nucleus:
● Most prominent organelle in the cell.
● Houses the cell's DNA and directs the synthesis of ribosome and proteins. (See diagram
page 175)
Nuclear envelope:
● Double- membrane structure that constitutes the outermost portion of the nucleus.
● Inner and outer membranes of the nuclear envelope are phospholipids bilayer.
● Envelope with pores that controls the passage por ions, molecules, and RNA between
the nucleoplasm and cytoplasm.
● Nucleoplasm - is the semi-solid fluid inside the nucleus, where we find the chromatin and
the nucleolus.
Chromatin and Chromosomes:
● Chromosomes - structures within the nucleus that are made up of DNA, the hereditary
material.
● Eukaryotic - chromosomes linear structure, prokaryotes - DNA organized into a single
circular chromosome.
● Specific number of chromosomes in nucleus of each cell(eukaryotic species)
● Visibles when the cell is getting ready to divide.
● They are seen for a short period of time then they are chromatin.
● Chromatin - unwound protein - chromosome complex.
● Cell’s growth and maintenance phase - proteins attach to chromosomes. Looking then
like an unwound, jumbled bunch of threads.
● Describes material that makes chromosomes when condensed and decondensed.
Nucleolus:
● Darkly staining area, aggregates the ribosomal RNA with associated proteins to
assemble the ribosomal subunits that are then transported out through the pores in the
nuclear envelope to the cytoplasm.
● Some chromosomes contain sections of DNA that encode ribosomal RNA.
Ribosome:
● Cellular structure responsible for protein synthesis.
● Electron microscope - appear either as clusters(polyribosomes) or single , tiny dots that
float freely in cytoplasm.
● They may be attached to the cytoplasmic side of the plasma membrane or the
cytoplasmic side of the endoplasmic reticulum and the outer membrane of the nuclear
envelope .
● Electron microscopy has shown us that ribosomes, which are large complexes of protein
and RNA, consist of two subunits, aptly called large and small.
● Extra information page 176.
● Found practically every cell because protein synthesis is an essential function of all cells.
● Abundant in cells that make a lot of protein.
Mitochondria:
● Often referred to as the powerhouse or energy factories since they are responsible for
making adenosine triphosphate( unit required for energy for many processes).
● ATP - represents short term energy of the cell.
● Cellular respiration - process of making ATP using the chemical energy found in glucose
and other nutrients.
● Carbon dioxide we excel comes from cellular reactions which produce it as a byproduct.
● Muscle cells - very high concentration of mitochondria that is going to produce ATP.
Need a lot of energy to keep moving the body.
● Little oxygen - no making of ATP.
● Waste products - water, carbon dioxide.
● Reading ATP we can break a phosphate and release energy.
● Formula: C6H12+06+CO2
● Oval shaped, double membrane organelles, with own ribosome and DNA.
● . Each membrane is a phospholipid bilayer embedded with proteins.
● Cristales - fold that inner layer has.
● Mitochondrial matrix - area surrounded by the folds.
● Both of these have different roles in cellular respiration.
Peroxides:
● Small , round organelles enclosed by single membranes. (Every single is made out of
phospholipid bilayer.)
● Carry out oxidation reactions that break(losing electrons in one of the components)
down fatty acids and amino acids.
● Detoxify many poisons that may enter the body.
● Glyoxysomes - specialized peroxisomes in plants, are responsible for converting stored
fats into sugars.
Vesicles and Vacuoles:
● Made of the same thing.
● Membrane bound sacs that function in storage and transport.
● Vacuoles - larger than vesicles and they cannot fuse with other cellular components.
Agents such as enzymes writhing plant break down macromolecules.
● Vesicles - smaller, its membrane can fuse with either plasma membrane or other
membrane systems within the cell.
● central vacuole can expand without having to produce more cytoplasm.
Animal Cells:
Similarity: plasma membrane, cytoplasm, a nucleus, ribosomes, mitochondria, peroxisomes,
and in some, central vacuoles.
Difference:
● Both have microtubule organizing centers (MTOCs). Animals have centrioles associated
with the MTOC: a complex called Centrosome.
● Each cell has a centrosome, lysosome(enzymes to break down macromolecules . Plant
don’t.
● animals (heterotrophs) must ingest their food.
● Only cellular respiration.
Plant Cells:
● have a cell wall, chloroplasts and other specialized plastids, and a large central vacuole,
whereas animal cells do not.
● Digestive process takes place in vacuoles.
● plants (autotrophs) are able to make their own food.
● Produce and consume photosynthesis.
The Centrosome:
● microtubule-organizing center found near the nuclei of animal cells.
● Contains a pair of centrioles. Two structures that lie perpendicular to each other.
● Each centriole is a cylinder of nine triplets of microtubules.
● Centrosome - replicates itself before a cell divides.
● Centrioles - appear in the moment of cell divisions and a set of two will appear on either
side. Function not clear in cell division.
● Plant cells don’t have it and can divide. Animal cell remove it and still can divide.
Lysosomes :
● Enzymes break down macromolecules( proteins, polysaccharides, lipids, nucleic acids,
and even worn-out organelles.)
● Enzymes activate at much lower pH
● PH is more acidic than the cytoplasm.
● Many reactions that take place in the cytoplasm could not occur at a low pH, so again,
the advantage of compartmentalizing the eukaryotic cell into organelles is apparent.
● Ph changes , proteins denature change it.
Cell wall:
● structure external to the plasma membrane
● rigid covering that protects the cell, provides structural support, and gives shape to the
cell.
● Fungal and protistan have cell wall.
● Major organic molecule , plant - cellulose(polysaccharides made of glucose units.
● Fiber - cellulose
Chloroplasts:
● Own DNA , and ribosomes.
● plant cell organelles that carry out photosynthesis.
● Photosynthesis - the series of reactions that use carbon dioxide, water, and light energy
to make glucose and oxygen.
● Photo formula: 6CO2 +6H - 6O2+C6H12O6
● Take in water , carbon dioxide, energy from sun, and put together the sugar and produce
oxygen.
● have outer and inner membranes(line nucleus)but within the space enclosed by a
chloroplast’s inner membrane is a set of interconnected and stacked fluid-filled
membrane sacs called thylakoids.
● Each stack of thylakoids is called a granum.
● Stroma - fluid enclosed by the inner membrane that surrounds the grana.
● Chlorophyll - green pigment, captures the light energy that drives the reactions of
photosynthesis.
● Photosynthesis protists - have chloroplast like plant cells.
● Bacteria perform photosynthesis, but chlorophyll is not relegated to an organelle.
4.4 The Endomembrane System and Proteins.
Intro:
● Eukaryotes distinguished by: endomembrane system that includes the plasma
membrane, nuclear envelope, lysosomes, vesicles, endoplasmic reticulum, and Golgi
apparatus.
● Subcellular components - work together to modify, tag, package, and transport proteins
and lipids.
● Endoplasmic reticulum - site of protein synthesis and modification.
● Smooth endoplasmic reticulum - synthesis carbohydrates, lipids including phospholipids
and cholesterol.
● Steroid hormones - engage in the detoxification of medications and poisons, and stores
calcium ions.
● Lysosomes - digest macromolecules, recycle worn-out organelles and destroy
pathogens.
● This functional flow through several organelles, a process which is dependent on energy
produced by yet another organelle, serves as a hallmark illustration of the cell’s complex,
interconnected dependence on its organelles.
The endoplasmic (phospholipid bilayer) reticulum:
● Extension nuclear envelope .
● Endomembrane system - a group of membranes and organelles. In eukaryotes that work
for proteins and lipids synthesis and their modification .
● includes the nuclear envelope, lysosomes, and vesicles, and the endoplasmic reticulum
and Golgi apparatus.
● vesicles can bud from the ER and transport their contents elsewhere.
● Plasma membrane included in the system because of its interaction with other
Endomembrane organelles.
● This system does not include either mitochondria or chloroplasts.
● Endoplasmic reticulum - is a series of interconnected membranous sacs and tubules that
collectively modifies proteins and synthesizes lipids.
● Performed in separate areas of ER: rough and smooth.
● Lumen , cisternas space - hollow portion of ER tubules.
● Membrane of ER- phospholipid bilayer embedded with proteins, continuous with nuclear
envelope.
Rough ER(RER):
● Ribosomes attached to its cytoplasmic surface give out a studded appearance when
viewed through electron microscopes.(named origin)
● Ribosome - transfer newly synthesized proteins into the lumen of the RER where they
undergo structural modifications, such as folding or the acquisition of side chains.
● modified proteins will be incorporated into cellular membranes. or secreted from the cell
(such as protein hormones, enzymes).
● makes phospholipids for cellular membranes.
● Phospholipids or modified proteins not destined to stay in the RER, they will reach their
destinations via transport vesicles that bud from the RER’s membrane.
● assuming that the RER is abundant in cells that secrete proteins.(because of modifying
and secreted) Example : cells liver
Smooth ER:
● continuous with the RER but has few or no ribosomes on its cytoplasmic surface.
● Functions include synthesis of carbohydrates, lipids, and steroid hormones;
detoxification of medications and poisons; and storage of calcium ions.
● sarcoplasmic reticulum - responsible for storage of the calcium ions(muscle cells),
needed for triggering the coordinated contractions of them.
Golgi Apparatus:
● lipids or proteins within the transport vesicles still need to be sorted, packaged, and
tagged so that they wind up in the right place.
● Golgi apparatus - Sorting, tagging, packaging, and distribution of lipids and proteins
takes place in.
● A series of flattened membranes.
● CIS face - receiving side
● TRans face - opposite side.
Process:
● The transport vesicles that formed from the ER travel to the cis face, fuse with it, and
empty their contents into the lumen of the Golgi apparatus.
● Lipids, protein undergo further modifications that allow them to be sorted. Some of them
been the addition of short chains of sugar molecules.
● newly modified proteins and lipids are then tagged with phosphate groups or other small
molecules so that they can be routed to their proper destinations.
● the modified and tagged proteins are packaged into secretory vesicles that bud from the
trans face of the Golgi.
● Vesicles deposit their contents into other parts of the cell where they are used.
● Secretary verles. Fuse with plasma membranes and release their contents outside of the
cell.
● Plant cells: additional role of synthesizing polysaccharides, some incorporated into the
cell, others used in other parts of the cell.
Lysosomes:
● Role as digestive component and organelle-recycling facility in animal cells.
● Considered to be parts of the Endomembrane system.
● Their hydrologic enzymes are used to destroy pathogens that might enter the cell.
● Examples: white cells called macrophages.
● Created by budding of the membrane of the RER and Golgi.
4.5 Cytoskeleton:
Intro:
● From simple(bacteria) to complex eukaryotes possess a cytoskeleton.
● Composed of different types of protein elements(microfilaments, intermediate filaments,
and microtubules)
Purpose:
● Provides rigidity and shape to the cell.
● Facilitates cellular movement.
● Anchors the nucleus and other organelles in place.
● Moves vesicles through the cell.
● Pulls replicated chromosomes to the ones of a dividing cell.
● Protein elements integral to the movements of centrioles, flagella, and cilia.
Microfilaments:
● Network of protein fibers - cytoskeleton.
● Three types of fibers in cytoskeleton: microfilaments, intermediate filaments, and
microtubules.
● Microfilaments - narrowest.
● Function in cellular movement, have a diameter of about 7mm.
● Are made of two intertwined strands of a globular protein - actin.
● Also known as actin filaments.
● Actin is powered by ATP to assemble its flame tours form.
● They move.
Intermediate Filaments:
● Made of several strands of fibrous proteins wounded together.
● Name of elements of cytoskeleton from their diameter 8 to 10 nm.
● Have no room in cell movement.
● Function purely structural.
● Bear tension - maintains shape of the cell, anchor the nucleus and other organelles in
place.
● Create supportive scaffolding inside the cell.
● Most diverse group of all the cyto elements.
● There are several fibrous proteins found in it. ( like keratin)
Microtubules:
● Small hollow tubes.
● The wall are made of polymerized diners of a-tubulin and B-tubulin, two globular
proteins.
● Widest components of the cytoskeleton because of their diameter about 25 nm.
Help:
● cells resist compression, provide a track along which vesicles move through the cell, and
pull replicated chromosomes to opposite ends of a dividing cell.
● Can dissemble and reform quickly(like microtubules).
● The structural elements of flagella, cilia, and centrioles.
● Centrioles - the latter are the two perpendicular bodies of the centrosome.
● Animal cells - centrosome is the microtubule-organizing center.
Flagella and Cilia:
● Long hair-like structures that extend from the plasma membrane and are used to move
an entire cell.
● Cell have one flagellum or few flagella.
Cilia:
● Many of them extend along the entire surface of the plasma membrane. They are short,
hair-like structures that are used to move entire cells (such as paramecia) or substances
along the outer surface of the cell.
Similarities:
● share a common structural arrangement of microtubules called a “9 + 2 array.” This is an
appropriate name because a single flagellum or cilium is made of a ring of nine
microtubule doublets, surrounding a single microtubule doublet in the center.
TABLE PAGE 193 -194
4.6: Connections between Cells and Cellular Activities:
Intro:
● For cells to work together they have to communicate with one another.
Extracellular Matrix of Animal Cells:
● Animal cells release materials into the extracellular space.
● Primary components: proteins and the most abundant is collagen.
● Proteoglycans - Collagen fibers are interwoven with carbohydrate-containing protein
molecules. Which are called extracellular matrix.
● Function of it: hold the cells together to form a tissue, allows cells within the tissue to
communicate with each other.
● Extra info page 195.
● Cells not part of tissue : white and red blood cells.
● Collagen Fiber - keeps cells together.
● Vitamin C- built collagen fiber.
● Glycoprotein - polysaccharide connected to integral protein.
● Hormone form of lipid Edith carbohydrate chain attached.
● All of them are anchored and need to be together since they cannot be apart but there
are exceptions like blood cells.
● Integral - communication with the outside world.
Intercellular Junctions:
● Cells communicate with each other via direct contact.
● Plasmodesmata - junctions in plant cells.
● Animal cell contacts - tight junctions, gap junctions, and desmosomes.
Plasmodesmata:
● Long stretch of plasma membrane cannot touch one another because they are
separated by the cell wall that surrounds the cell.
● Transport of water, soil nutrients from roots, through stem and then leaves uses vascular
tissues(xylem and phloem)
● Plasmodesmata - numerous channels that pass between cell walls of adjacent plant
cells, connect their cytoplasm, and enable materials to be transported from cell to cell,
and thus throughout the plant.
● Also tiny holes between two adjacent plants that allows capilatery action.
Tight Junctions:
● Watertight seal between two adjacent animal cells.
● Cells a re held tightly against each other by proteins(predominantly: Claudine’s and
occludins).
● Cellular level things are held together.
● Prevents material from leaking between the cells.
● Are typically found in epithelial tissues that line internal organs and cavities, and
compromise most of the skin.
Desmosomes:
● Only in animal cells
● Act like spot welds between adjacent epithelial cells,
● Catherine’s - short proteins in the plasma membrane used to connect intermediate
filaments to create desmosomes.
● The cadherins join two adjacent cells together and maintain the cells in a sheet-like
formation in organs and tissues that stretch, like the skin, heart, and muscles.
Gap junctions:
● Same as Plasmodesmata in plant cells. But differ in structure.
● Are channels between adjacent cells that allow for the transport of ions, nutrients, and
other substances that enable cells to communicate.
● Develop when a set of six proteins - connexins- in the plasma membrane arrange
themselves in an elongated donut-like configuration called connexon.
● Extra info page 198.
● Particularly important in cardiac muscle.
● Allow things to go from one cell to another.
