BIOQUÍMICA E BIOLOGIA CELULAR

José Magalhães

Cellular organelles, part 2

Structure and function

Faculdade de Desporto, Universidade do Porto, 1º Ciclo, 1º Ano

Cellular organelles

Nucleus

Endoplasmic Reticulum

Ribosomes

Golgi Apparatus

Lysosomes

Mitochondria

Peroxisomes
Lysosomes
Lysossome composition and functions

• Vesicles containing hydrolitic enzymes,

capable of breaking down all kinds of
biomolecules, including proteins, nucleic
acids, carbohydrates, lipids, and cellular
debris.

• Act as waste disposal system of the cell

by digesting unwanted materials in the
cytoplasm, both from outside of the cell
and obsolete components inside the cell.

• Enzymes of the lysosomes are

synthezised in the ER, released from Golgi
apparatus in small vesicles and ultimately
fuse with acidic vesicles called
endosomes, thus becoming full lysosomes.
Lysosomes enzymatic “artillery” …
Pathways of degradation in lysossomes

Lysosomes are interlinked with three intracellular processes

namely phagocytosis, endocytosis and autophagy
Lysossomes in action …
Mitochondria
Mitochondria

Are you all seeing this ??

Mitochondria is not like this at all !!

Endossimbiose (Lynn Margulis, Massachusetts, 1981)
Mitochondria structure and functions

• Powerhouses of the cell

• Osmotic regulators

• Regulators of cell calcium

homeostasis

• Activators of the intrinsic pathway

of apoptosis

• Owns DNA for protein synthesis

Mitochondria structure and functions
Mitochondria structure and functions
Mitochondrial dynamics
Mitochondria and calcium buffer
Mitochondria and apoptosis
Peroxissomes

• Involved in a variety of biochemical pathways in

different types of cells, namely the b-oxidation (very
long chain fatty acids to acetyl CoA), and lipid (some
phospholipids) and cholesterol biosynthesis.

• Major site of O2 utilization in cell

• Vestige of an ancient organelle that carried out all of

the oxygen metabolism in primitive ancestors of
eukaryotic cells

• Contain enzymes (e.g. catalase) that use molecular O2

to detoxify organic substrates producing H2O2

• Catalase uses this H2O2 to oxidize other substrates (ex:

alchool in liver) or convert it to water.
 Coupled with ATP production

Non-coupled with ATP production

Very long chain fatty acids
Peroxisomes vs. Mitochondria and Beta (b)-oxidation