Cell and Cell

Organelles
 What are cell organelles?

Cells are the so called “Basic Unit For Life", they are
the biological structure that make up our entire bodies.
It divides life as we know it in 2 categories:
unicellular and multicellular.
Together,they make up organ and muscle tissue. But
cells are by no means the final layer of life like us
humans, they also possess a kind of organs necessary
for the performing of certain actions like producing
energy, mitosis,destroying toxins and so much more.
These are called organelles.
 Mitochondria
• The well known “Power House of the Cell”, the mitochondria has one simple
function:Producing energy for the cell.
• There are about 400,000 mitochondria in each of your cells,although this amount varies
drastically.
• But how does it do it?
• In order to create energy,the mitochondria needs 2 ingredients,oxygen and glucose.Cells
receive oxygen from red blood cells that carry it over from the lungs.With each breath,you
are supplying every mitochondria in your body with oxygen.Glucose is a sugar.It comes
from the foods we eat and is similarly carried over to each blood cell.But every chemical
reaction needs energy.It looks like we ran into a dead end.We need energy to produce
energy.Luckily,fat(lipids) and sugar has a lot of potential energy,used as a precursor for
the reaction.And so the reaction gives us Carbon Dioxide,Water and ATP.
• ATP is the energy we have been trying to produce.
• But why does the cell need ATP?
• Nothing can happen without energy.Energy is needed for the performing of even the most
basic functions.Without energy in your cells,you would not even be able to move,talk,not
even open your eyes.
• This is why the mitochondria is an incredibly important part of the cell.
 The Nucleus
The nucleus controls all of the
activities in the cell.Many confuse the
mitochondria for being the “brain of
the cell”,but that title would rather be
more fitting for the nucleus.
-It stores RNA and DNA,the true
building blocks of life,contains
information on every biological detail
of our bodies,like a database or a
server.
-It coordinates cell division and
growth.
-It produces ribosome
This barely scratches the surface on all
of its functions.
 Ribosome
You can imagine ribosomes as being tiny factories
inside each of your cells.Eukaryote cells(cells that
have a nucleus) have millions of these tiny
ribosomes.Some ribosomes create protein for the cell
itself, while others create protein for either the cell
membrane or to be used outside of the cell.They
create protein through a process referred to as
“translation”.
They take mRNA( messanger RNA) and use it as a
reference point(like an artist painting a portrait) to
create protein from an amino acid chain.The tRNA is
the painter,the amino acid chain is the canvas,and the
mRNA is the person being painted.
They are essential for our muscle structure,skin,even
digestion and many other things!
 Peroxisome
If the mitochondria and ribosomes are like factories,the
peroxisome functions as a watch guard that makes sure
that there are no materials that are harmful for the cell.
And so,peroxisome gathers hydrogen(resultant of a
bunch of different reactions) and oxygen from the cell
and forms H2O2(hydrogen peroxide)which is meant to
break down fatty acids(which are used by the
mitochondria for example) entering the cell in order to
not cause any damage to the cells structure.But H2O2
is ,ironically, also a dangerous substance,so
peroxisomes evolved a built in enzyme(catalase),which
breaks down H2O2 into water and oxygen.
Its like a gun being disassembled and assembled over
and over again.
Cell organelles unique to either plant
or animal cells
• Plant cells and animals cells share most organelles,but there are some that are specific
to either plant or animal cells,some of these being:
• -Lysosomes,unique to animal cells,these are organelles that digest and recycle waste
products using hydrolytic enzymes.They are like the garbage man of your cells.
• -Vacuoles appear in both animal and plant cells,but plant cell vacuoles are
much,much larger than animal cell ones.They function similarly to Lysosomes,since
they store waste products,water,other organelles,etc.Vacuoles are like storage places
for plant cells.
• -Chloroplasts are the reason plant photosynthesize but use humans don’t,due to
chloroplasts having a chlorophyll(green) pigment.
• -Cell wall.Both plant and animals cells have a cell membrane,but plant cells have an
extra layer of protection that is tough and flexible and provides the cell with
structural support.