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Revision Notes - Cell The Unit of Life

The document discusses the structure and components of eukaryotic cells. It describes the plasma membrane, cell wall, ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi complex, lysosomes, and vacuoles. It provides details on their composition, functions, and characteristics.

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47 views3 pages

Revision Notes - Cell The Unit of Life

The document discusses the structure and components of eukaryotic cells. It describes the plasma membrane, cell wall, ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi complex, lysosomes, and vacuoles. It provides details on their composition, functions, and characteristics.

Uploaded by

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© © All Rights Reserved
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Revision Notes

Chapter 8 - Cell: The unit of life

The cell is the smallest, basic structural, and functional unit of living things; hence it is
generally referred to as ‘building blocks of life. Cells are capable of
independent existence and performing essential functions of life. All organisms
including plants, animals are made up of one or more cells and all that cells come from
pre-existing cells. Robert Hooke was the scientist who first discovered cells in a piece of
cork.

Different types of cells: In the human body, different types of cells are present such as
hepatocytes in the liver, nephrons in the kidney, neurons in the brain, etc. The different
types of cells are grouped to form tissues. These tissues perform specific functions.

Cell theory: The modern theory of the cell includes-


• Every living organism is made up of cells.
• The cell is said to be the basic structural and functional unit of living things.
• All cells arise from the pre-existing cells by division method and this was given by
Rudolf Virchow.
• All energy flow takes place within the cells.
• Cells contain the hereditary information which is passed from cell to cell during cell
division.
• All cells have the same chemical composition.

Structure of eukaryotic cells


Plasma membrane: The plasma membrane is a dynamic, fluid-structure that is present in
the external boundary of the cell and separates the interior of the cell from the outside
environment. It is selectively permeable. In 1972, Jonathan Singer and Garth Nicolson
proposed the fluid mosaic model of the plasma membrane. According to this model, the
membrane is a quasi-fluid structure in which proteins are embedded throughout the lipid
bilayer and this lipid bilayer provides fluidity and elasticity to the membrane. The bilayer
is composed of two layers of amphipathic molecules that contain polar heads and
nonpolar tails.
Hydrophobic interactions are the primary forces for organizing lipid bilayer. There are
three types of lipid and two types of protein present in the plasma membrane. Lipids are
phospholipids, glycolipids, and sterol and the proteins are peripheral proteins and integral
proteins. Peripheral proteins are proteins that are held with the bilayer loosely and can be
easily removed. While the integral proteins are proteins that are held in the lipid bilayer
very tightly and cannot be removed easily.

Cell Wall: The cell wall is a rigid non-living structure that surrounds the plasma
membrane. The cell wall is mostly found in plant and fungal cells that provide shape to
the cell. It also protects the cell against mechanical damage or infection and also prevents
the entry of unwanted macromolecules.
Cell walls are important for cell-to-cell interaction and transport. The cell wall is made up
of three parts i.e., primary wall, middle lamella, and secondary wall.
Plasmodesmata are the connections that are present between the cytoplasm of the
neighbouring cells and the middle lamella.
Ribosomes: Ribosomes are specialized cell organelle which is composed of RNAs and
proteins hence, they are known as ribonucleoprotein. Ribosomes units come together to
translate genetic information which is stored in messenger RNA (mRNA) into proteins.
Functional ribosomes consist of two subunits of unequal size, known as large and small
subunits where small subunits read mRNA and large subunits form a polypeptide chain of
amino acids.
Eukaryotic cells generally possess two types of ribosomes: cytosolic and organellar. The
ribosome found in prokaryotes is the 70S and 80S in eukaryotes where S stands for
sedimentation coefficient. It is the ratio of a velocity to the centrifugal acceleration that
helps to measure the particle's size based on the sedimentation rate.

Endoplasmic reticulum: It is the largest single membrane-bound intracellular


compartment which is mainly found in eukaryotic cells. It is formed by an interconnected
network of closed and flattened membrane-bound structures and the membrane-enclosed
sac is called the lumen. Based on the presence or absence of ribosomes, ER can be of two
types i.e., rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) and smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER).
When ribosomes are present on ER, it gives a rough appearance to the structure
hence it is known as rough ER. When ribosomes are absent in the ER membrane, it is
known as smooth ER.
Proteins synthesized by ribosomes that are present on the membrane of RER enter into
the lumen by the process of co-translational translocation. Before reaching their final
destination there are five principal modifications of proteins that take place in the lumen.
These modifications are - addition and processing of carbohydrates, formation of
disulfide bonds, proper folding, specific proteolytic cleavages, and assembly into
multimeric proteins. The SER performs different functions like the synthesis of essential
lipids, steroid hormones, metabolism of carbohydrates, detoxification, and calcium
regulation.

Golgi complex/Golgi apparatus: It is a single membrane-bound organelle that forms a


part of the endomembrane system. Golgi complex is mainly found in the cytosol of the
eukaryotic cells and is made up of flattened membrane sacs known as cisternae. A Golgi
stack normally contains 4-8 cisternae. Each Golgi stack has two faces- the cis face and
the trans face. Both faces are also called the entry face and exit face, respectively. The
main functions of the Golgi apparatus include protein packaging and secretion.

Lysosomes: It is a single membrane-enclosed organelle that contains hydrolytic enzymes


that are responsible for the breakdown of various biomolecules. These hydrolytic
enzymes include nucleases, proteases, lipases, glycosidases, phosphatase, phospholipases,
and sulphatases. For optimal activity, the enzyme requires an acidic environment inside
the lysosomes with a pH of about 5.0. There remains present a proton pump inside the
lysosomal membrane. This proton pump transports the proton from inside the membrane
using ATP as a source of energy. Lysosomes are responsible for the digestion of both
intracellular as well as extracellular materials as they can break
down virus particles or bacteria in the phagocytosis of macrophages.

Vacuoles: Fluid-filled vesicles are known as vacuoles and are mostly found in the
cytoplasmic matrix of the cell. There is a membrane that surrounds the vacuole known as

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