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    The Fundamental Unit of Life

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    Lavanya Saini
    The document discusses the fundamental unit of life - the cell. It describes the discovery of cells and outlines key cellular structures like the nucleus, cell membrane, cytoplasm, organelles like mitochondria, chloroplasts, ER and more. It also discusses cell processes like diffusion, osmosis, membrane biogenesis and the two main types of cell division - mitosis and meiosis.

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    The Fundamental Unit of Life

    Uploaded by

    Lavanya Saini
    5 views2 pages
    The document discusses the fundamental unit of life - the cell. It describes the discovery of cells and outlines key cellular structures like the nucleus, cell membrane, cytoplasm, organelles like mitochondria, chloroplasts, ER and more. It also discusses cell processes like diffusion, osmosis, membrane biogenesis and the two main types of cell division - mitosis and meiosis.

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    THE FUNDAMENTAL UNIT OF LIFE

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    The document discusses the fundamental unit of life - the cell. It describes the discovery of cells and outlines key cellular structures like the nucleus, cell membrane, cytoplasm, organelles like mitochondria, chloroplasts, ER and more. It also discusses cell processes like diffusion, osmosis, membrane biogenesis and the two main types of cell division - mitosis and meiosis.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    5 views2 pages

    The Fundamental Unit of Life

    Uploaded by

    Lavanya Saini
    The document discusses the fundamental unit of life - the cell. It describes the discovery of cells and outlines key cellular structures like the nucleus, cell membrane, cytoplasm, organelles like mitochondria, chloroplasts, ER and more. It also discusses cell processes like diffusion, osmosis, membrane biogenesis and the two main types of cell division - mitosis and meiosis.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    THE FUNDAMENTAL UNIT OF LIFE

    Robert Hooke called these boxes cells. Cell is a Latin word for ‘a little room’.

    Cells were first discovered by Robert Hooke in 1665. He observed the cells in a cork slice with the help of
    a primitive microscope.

    It was Robert Brown in 1831 who discovered the nucleus in the cell. Purkinje in 1839 coined the term
    ‘protoplasm’ for the fluid substance of the cell. The cell theory, that all the plants and animals are
    composed of cells and that the cell is the basic unit of life, was presented by two biologists, Schleiden
    (1838) and Schwann (1839).

    Some substances like carbon dioxide or oxygen can move across the cell membrane by a process called
    diffusion.

    spontaneous movement of a substance from a region of high concentration to a region where its
    concentration is low.

    Plant cells, in addition to the plasma membrane, have another rigid outer covering called the cell wall.

    When a living plant cell loses water through osmosis there is shrinkage or contraction of the contents of
    the cell away from the cell wall. This phenomenon is known as plasmolysis.

    The nucleus has a double layered covering called nuclear membrane.

    Functional segments of DNA are called genes.

    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

    Organisms with cells having a nuclear membrane are called eukaryotes.

    The cytoplasm is the fluid content inside the plasma membrane. It also contains many specialised cell
    organelles.

    The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a large network of membrane-bound tubes and sheets.

    There are two types of ER– rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) and smooth endoplasmic reticulum
    (SER).

    The SER helps in the manufacture of fat molecules, or lipids, important for cell function. Some of these
    proteins and lipids help in building the cell membrane. This process is known as membrane biogenesis.

    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.

    The Golgi apparatus, first described by Camillo Golgi.Its functions include the storage, modification and
    packaging of products in vesicles.

    lysosomes may burst and the enzymes digest their own cell. Therefore, lysosomes are also known as the
    ‘suicide bags’ of a 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.they have their own DNA and ribosomes.

    Plastids are present only in plant cells. There are two types of plastids – chromoplasts (coloured plastids)
    and leucoplasts (white or colourless plastids). Chromoplasts containing the pigment chlorophyll are
    known as chloroplasts. Chloroplasts are important for photosynthesis in plants. Chloroplasts also
    contain various yellow or orange pigments in addition to chlorophyll. Leucoplasts are primarily
    organelles in which materials such as starch, oils and protein granules are stored. plastids also have their
    own DNA and ribosomes.

    Vacuoles are storage sacs for solid or liquid contents. Vacuoles are small sized in animal cells while plant
    cells have very large vacuoles. The central vacuole of some plant cells may occupy 50-90% of the cell
    volume.

    The process by which new cells are made is called cell division. There are two main types of cell division:
    mitosis and meiosis. The process of cell division by which most of the cells divide for growth is called
    mitosis.

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