THE FUNDAMENTAL UNIT OF LIFE

(Doubt Session)
 CONTENT

▪ Cell
▪ Discovery of cell
▪ Cell Theory
▪ Microscope
▪ Cell Morphology
▪ Cell Wall and Plasma Membrane
▪ Nucleus
▪ Cytoplasm
 DISCOVERY OF CELL

British botanist Robert Hooke (1665)

Slice of cork under his crude microscope.

Cell

‘cellulae’ (Small room)

Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1674)
Simple microscope
Single biconvex lens
 CELL THEORY

Theodar Schwann (1839)

(All plants and animals are
Matthias Schleiden (1838) made up of cells)
(All plants are made up of cells)
Rudolf Virchow (1855)
‘Omnis cellula-e-cellula’
(New cells arise from pre-
existing cells)
 CELL THEORY

▪ Every living organism is made up one or many cells.

▪ Cell is the structural and functional unit of all living organisms.
▪ All cells arise from pre-existing cells.
 MICROSCOPE

▪ For looking into the structural details of a cell, a microscope is required.

▪ A microscope is an equipment that magnifies a specimen (often as high as 400
times) and makes the inner structures clear.
▪ Greater details can be viewed using an electron microscope.
 Eyepiece

Coarse
Adjustment
Body tube

Fine
adjustment
Objective
Arm
lens
Clip

Stage
Condenser
Mirror
 ACTIVITY

Take an onion bulb.

Gently remove the transparent

membrane from its inner side with
the help of forceps.
 Now, take a watch glass and pour water in it and place this peel in it.

Add a few drops of stain Safranin to the watch glass.

After few seconds remove the peel from the watch glass and wash it with
tap water to remove extra stain.

Now, gently place this peel on a slide and cover with cover slip.
Now, observe it under the microscope.

Cell
CELL MORPHOLOGY
 Organisms
(Based on Number of Cells)

UNICELLULAR MULTICELLULAR

Consist of a single cell, Consist of more than one cell,

e.g., Amoeba, Paramaecium , e.g., Fungi, Plants and Animals
Bacteria, Mycoplasmas,etc.
 Organisms
(Based on the presence of nucleus)

Prokaryotes Eukaryotes

Lack true nucleus, e.g., Consist of true nucleus,

bacteria e.g., Plants and Animals
 Plasma membrane

❖ It is selectively permeable
membrane.
❖ 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.
❖ Made up of lipoprotein (phospholipid
and protein).
 Diffusion

Diffusion is the movement of substances from the region having higher

concentration to the region having lower concentration.
 Osmosis

Sugar

Semi-permeable
Water membrane

In osmosis only solvent particles can move.

HYPOTONIC SOLUTION ISOTONIC SOLUTION HYPERTONIC SOLUTION

RESULT: Cell Swells RESULT: No change RESULT: Cell Shrinks

Mechanism of Water Absorption in Plants

Active
Diffusion Osmosis
Transport
 Cell Wall

❖ Present outside of plasma

membrane.
❖ Provides structural strength to the
plants
❖ Rigid outer covering composed of
cellulose in plants
❖ Gives specific shape to the plant
cells
❖ Freely permeable to solution.
❖ Cell walls permit the cells of
plants, fungi and bacteria to
withstand very dilute (hypotonic)
external media without bursting.
 PLASMOLYSIS
When a plant cell is kept in hypertonic solution, the cell starts to lose water. That results in
the shrinkage or contraction of the contents of the cell away from the cell wall. This
phenomenon is known as plasmolysis.

H2O H2O
Structure of Nucleus
 Functions of Nucleus

❖ Nucleus controls the growth and reproduction of the cell.

❖ It stores the DNA thus responsible for the inheritance of
genetic material.
❖ It directs the chemical activities of the cell.
 Chromosome

❖ Each chromosome is made up of protein and single

molecule of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid).
❖ Each chromosome consists of two symmetrical
strands are called chromatids.
❖ They remain attached with each other at a point,
centromere.
 Sugar

Phosphate
group Nitrogenous
base

P S

Nb

P
S

Nb
P
S

Nb
Genes

❖ The specific sequence of nucleotides in DNA is

called gene.
❖ Gene is the functional unit of DNA.
❖ Genes carry genetic material to next
generation.
 Differences b/w Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cell

Prokaryotic cells Eukaryotic cells

Primitive nuclei without nuclear Nuclei surrounded by nuclear
membrane membrane

Nucleiod- region containing nuclear Well organised nucleus

matter (single chromosome)
Do not have membrane bound cell Have membrane bound cell organelles
organelles

Example- bacteria Example- plant and animal cells

 Cytoplasm

❖ Jelly-like, semi-fluid matrix

❖ Colourless and translucent fluid
❖ Living cytoplasm remains in state of
movement
❖ Present between cell membrane and
nucleus
❖ Mainly composed of water but also
contains enzymes, salts, organelles and
various organic molecules

Cytoplasm = Cytosol + Cell organelles (exclude

nucleus)
Functions of Cytoplasm

❖ Provides the shape to the cell

❖ Enables the organelles to remain at their
positions
❖ Assists in cellular metabolic activities
 Cytosol

❖ Cytoplasm = Cytosol + Cell organelles (exclude nucleus)

❖ Cytosol – Aquous fluid pressent in the cell

 Protoplasm

Cytoplasm

Nucleus

Protoplasm
Nucleolus
(living substances in an
organism)
Cell organelle

Purkinje in 1839 coined the term protoplasm.

❖ Translucent, colourless fluid
❖ Composed of elements C, H, O, N, S, Fe, P
❖ Compounds- water, proteins, carbohydrates, fats and mineral salts
❖ Responds to external stimuli

Huxley in 1868, called it as “physical basis of life”

(all the properties of life exist in the protoplasm).
 Endoplasmic reticulum

Ribosomes
CELL ORGANELLES
Golgi apparatus

Lysosomes

Vacuole

Mitochondria

Plastids

Centrosome and centriole

THANK YOU