Cell

General Science
Presented by yaSIR
 What is a cell?
• Cells may be compared to bricks. Bricks are
assembled to make a building.
• Similarly, cells are assembled to make the body of
every organism.
• The cell is the fundamental structural unit of
living organisms. It is also the basic functional
unit of life.
 Who discovered Cell?
• Robert Hooke in 1665 saw that the cork
resembled the structure of a honeycomb
consisting of many little compartments.
 Single Cell Organism
• Single cell may constitute a whole organism as
in Amoeba, Chlamydomonas, Paramoecium
and bacteria.
• These organisms are called unicellular
organisms (uni = single).
 Multi Cellular Organism
• Many cells group together in a single body
and assume different functions in it to form
various body parts in multicellular organisms
multi = many) such as some fungi, plants and
animals.
 Question
• A hen’s egg can be seen easily. Is it a cell or a
group of cells?
• The egg of a hen represents a single cell and is
big enough to be seen by the unaided eye.
 Number of Cells
• The number runs into billions and trillions.
• Human body has trillions of cells which vary in
shapes and sizes.
 Shape of Cells
• Amoeba has no definite shape, unlike other
organisms.
• A white blood cell (WBC) in human blood is
another example of a single cell which can
change its shape.
• Generally, cells are round, spherical elongated.
•
 Size of Cells
• The size of cells in living organisms may be as
small as a millionth of a metre (micrometre or
micron) or may be as large as a few
centimetres.
• The smallest cell is 0.1 to 0.5 micrometre in
bacteria. The largest cell measuring 170 mm
×130 mm, is the egg of an ostrich.
• The size of the cells has no relation with the size of the
body of the animal or plant.
• It is not necessary that the cells in the elephant be
much bigger than those in a rat.
• The size of the cell is related to its function.
• For example, nerve cells, both in the elephant and rat,
are long and branched.
• They perform the same function, that of transferring
messages.
• Every multi-cellular organism has come from a
single cell. How? Cells divide to produce cells
of their own kind. All cells thus come from
pre-existing cells.
• Each living cell has the capacity to perform
certain basic functions that are characteristic
of all living forms.
• How does a living cell perform these basic
functions?
• Each such cell has got certain specific
components within it known as cell organelles.
• Each kind of cell organelle performs a special
function, such as making new material in the cell,
clearing up the waste material from the cell and
so on.
• A cell is able to live and perform all its functions
because of these organelles.
• It is interesting that all cells are found to have
the same organelles, no matter what their
function is or what organism they are found
in.
 What is a Cell Made Up of ?
• What is a Cell Made Up of ?
• What is the Structural Organisation of a Cell?
• Every cell has;
1. plasma membrane,
2. nucleus and
3. cytoplasm.
Plasma/Cell Membrane
 Plasma/Cell Membrane
• This is the outermost covering of the cell that
separates the contents of the cell from its external
environment.
• The plasma membrane allows or permits the entry and
exit of some materials in and out of the cell.
• It also prevents movement of some other materials.
• The cell membrane, therefore, is called a selectively
permeable membrane.
• The plasma membrane is flexible and is made
up of organic molecules called lipids and
proteins.
 Diffusion
• Some substances like carbon dioxide or
oxygen can move across the cell membrane by
a process called diffusion.
• Diffusion plays an important role in gaseous
exchange between the cells as well as the cell
and its external environment.
 Osmosis
• The movement of water molecules through a
selectively permeable membrane (like cell
membrane) is called Osmosis.
• Osmosis is the passage of water from a region
of high water concentration through a semi-
permeable membrane to a region of low
water concentration.
• Thus, osmosis is a special case of diffusion
through a selectively permeable membrane.
• What will happen if we put an animal cell or a
plant cell into a solution of sugar or salt in
water?
• Unicellular freshwater organisms and most
plant cells tend to gain water through
osmosis. Absorption of water by plant roots is
also an example of osmosis.
• The flexibility of the cell membrane also
enables the cell to engulf in food and other
material from its external environment.
• Such processes are known as endocytosis.
Amoeba acquires its food through such
processes.
CELL WALL
• Plant cells, in addition to the plasma membrane,
have another rigid outer covering called the cell
wall.
• The plant cell wall is mainly composed of
cellulose.
• Cellulose is a complex substance and provides
structural strength to plants.
• Cell walls permit the cells of plants, fungi and
bacteria to withstand very dilute (hypotonic)
external media without bursting.
• This additional layer surrounding the cell
membrane is required by the plants for
protection.
• Plant cells need protection against variations in
temperature, high wind speed, atmospheric
moisture, etc.
• They are exposed to these variations because
they cannot move.
NUCLEUS
• The nucleus has a double layered covering called
nuclear membrane.
• The nuclear membrane has pores which allow the
transfer of material from inside the nucleus to its
outside, that is, to the cytoplasm.
• The nucleus contains chromosomes, which are
visible as rod-shaped structures only when the
cell is about to divide.
• Chromosomes contain information for
inheritance of features from parents to next
generation in the form of DNA (Deoxyribo Nucleic
Acid) molecules.
• Chromosomes are composed of DNA and protein.
• DNA molecules contain the information
necessary for constructing and organising cells.
• Functional segments of DNA are called genes.
 What is a Gene?
• Gene is a unit of inheritance in living
organisms.
• It controls the transfer of a hereditary
characteristic from parents to offspring.
• This means that your parents pass some of
their characteristics on to you.
• The nucleus plays a central role in cellular
reproduction, the process by which a single
cell divides and forms two new cells.
• Nucleus, in addition to its role in inheritance,
acts as control centre of the activities of the
cell.
 Protoplasm
• The entire content of a living cell is known as
protoplasm.
• It includes the cytoplasm and the nucleus.
• Protoplasm is called the living substance of
the cell.
 Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes
• In some organisms like bacteria, the nuclear region of the
cell may be poorly defined due to the absence of a nuclear
membrane.
• Such an undefined nuclear region containing only nucleic
acids is called a nucleoid. Such organisms, whose cells lack
a nuclear membrane, are called prokaryotes (Pro =
primitive or primary; karyote ≈ karyon = nucleus).
• Organisms with cells having a nuclear membrane are called
eukaryotes.
CYTOPLASM
Animal and Plant Cells
• The cytoplasm is the fluid content inside the
plasma membrane. It also contains many
specialised cell organelles.
• Each of these organelles performs a specific
function for the cell.
• In prokaryotes, beside the absence of a
defined nuclear region, the membrane-bound
cell organelles are also absent.
• On the other hand, the eukaryotic cells have
nuclear membrane as well as membrane-
enclosed organelles.
 What about viruses
• Viruses lack any membranes and hence do not
show characteristics of life until they enter a
living body and use its cell machinery to
multiply.
CELL ORGANELLES
ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM (ER)
• There are two types of ER– rough endoplasmic
reticulum (RER) and smooth endoplasmic reticulum
(SER).
• RER looks rough under a microscope because it has
particles called ribosomes attached to its surface.
• The ribosomes, which are present in all active cells, are
the sites of protein manufacture.
• The manufactured proteins are then sent to various
places in the cell depending on need, using the ER.
• The SER helps in the manufacture of fat
molecules, or lipids, important for cell
function
 Functions of ER
• one function of the ER is to serve as channels for the
transport of materials (especially proteins) between various
regions of the cytoplasm or between the cytoplasm and the
nucleus.
• The ER also functions as a cytoplasmic framework providing
a surface for some of the biochemical activities of the cell.
• In the liver cells of the group of animals called vertebrates
,SER plays a crucial role in detoxifying many poisons and
drugs.
GOLGI APPARATUS
• The material synthesised near the ER is packaged and
dispatched to various targets inside and outside the
cell through the Golgi apparatus.
• Its functions include the storage, modification and
packaging of products in vesicles.
• In some cases, complex sugars may be made from
simple sugars in the Golgi apparatus.
• The Golgi apparatus is also involved in the formation of
lysosomes.
LYSOSOMES
 Waste disposal
• Lysosomes are a kind of waste disposal system
of the cell.
• Lysosomes help to keep the cell clean by
digesting any foreign material as well as worn-
out cell organelles.
 suicide bags of a cell
• Lysosomes are able to do this because they
contain powerful digestive enzymes capable of
breaking down all organic material.
• During the disturbance in cellular metabolism, for
example, when the cell gets damaged, lysosomes
may burst and the enzymes digest their own cell.
• Therefore, lysosomes are also known as the
‘suicide bags’ of a cell.
MITOCHONDRIA
 Powerhouses of the cell
• Mitochondria are known as the powerhouses
of the cell.
• The energy required for various chemical
activities needed for life is released by
mitochondria in the form of ATP (Adenosine
triphopshate) molecules.
• ATP is known as the energy currency of the
cell.
• The body uses energy stored in ATP for making
new chemical compounds and for mechanical
work.
• Mitochondria have two membrane coverings
instead of just one.
• Mitochondria are strange organelles in the
sense that they have their own DNA and
ribosomes.
• Therefore, mitochondria are able to make
some of their own proteins.
PLASTIDS
• Plastids are present only in plant cells. There are
two types of plastids – chromoplasts (coloured
plastids) and leucoplasts (white or colourless
plastids).
• Plastids containing the pigment chlorophyll are
known as chloroplasts.
• Chloroplasts are important for photosynthesis in
plants.
• Leucoplasts are primarily organelles in which
materials such as starch, oils and protein
granules are stored.
• Like the mitochondria, plastids also have their
own DNA and ribosomes.
VACUOLES
VACUOLES
• Vacuoles are storage sacs for solid or liquid
contents. Vacuoles are small sized in animal
cells while plant cells have very large vacuoles.
• Many substances of importance in the life of
the plant cell are stored in vacuoles. These
include amino acids, sugars, various organic
acids and some proteins.
 Ribosomes
• The ribosome plays a crucial role in protein
synthesis
• The ribosome plays a crucial role in protein
synthesis.
 Revision
• The fundamental organisational unit of life is the cell.

• Cells are enclosed by a plasma membrane composed of lipids

and proteins.

• The cell membrane is an active part of the cell. It regulates the

movement of materials between the ordered interior of the cell
and the outer environment.

• In plant cells, a cell wall composed mainly of cellulose is located

outside the cell membrane.
• The presence of the cell wall enables the cells of plants,
fungi and bacteria to exist in hypotonic media without
bursting.
• The nucleus in eukaryotes is separated from the
cytoplasm by double-layered membrane and it directs the
life processes of
the cell.
• The ER functions both as a passageway for intracellular
transport and as a manufacturing surface.
• The Golgi apparatus consists of stacks of membrane-bound
vesicles that function in the storage, modification and packaging
of substances manufactured in the cell.

• Most plant cells have large membranous organelles called

plastids, which are of two types – chromoplasts and leucoplasts.

• Chromoplasts that contain chlorophyll are called chloroplasts

and they perform photosynthesis.

• The primary function of leucoplasts is storage.

• Most mature plant cells have a large central
vacuole that helps to maintain the turgidity of the
cell and stores important
substances including wastes.
• Prokaryotic cells have no membrane-bound
organelles, their chromosomes are composed of
only nucleic acid, and they have only very small
ribosomes as organelles.