Cell Structure Vocabulary

Flashcards of key vocabulary terms from the lecture notes on cell structure.

Cell Theory

All living things are based off cells. Cells are the basic units of structure and function. Cells come from preexisting cells.

Resolution

Ability of a microscope to distinguish details of a specimen or sample.

Artifacts

Structures produced due to the preparation process, they are not actually a feature of the specimen.

Electron Microscopes

Microscopes that have better resolution and can give much higher magnification, allowing much smaller structures to be seen.

Stains

Colored substances that bind to some chemicals but not others in microscopy.

Fluorescence

When a substance absorbs light and then re-emits it at a longer wavelength.

Immunofluorescence

Development of fluorescent staining where antibodies that bind to particular chemicals (antigens) in the cell are produced.

Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM)

Technique principally used for researching the structure of proteins where a thin layer of a pure protein solution is flash-frozen and analyzed with an electron microscope.

Homeostasis

Maintenance of a constant internal environment in an organism.

Metabolism

The sum of all the biochemical reactions that occur in a living organism.

Nutrition

Supplying the nutrients required for energy, growth, and repair in an organism.

Excretion

Removal of waste products of metabolism from an organism.

Growth

An increase in size or number of cells

Response to stimuli (sensibility)

Perception of stimuli and carrying out appropriate actions in response

Reproduction

Production of offspring, either sexually or asexually

Symbiosis

Interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both.

Endosymbiosis

Symbiosis in which one of the symbiotic organisms lives inside the other.

Endosymbiotic Theory

States that the organelles (e.g. mitochondria and chloroplasts) originated as symbioses between separate single-celled organisms.