Cell Structure and Function

These flashcards cover key concepts from the Cell Structure and Function lecture notes, focusing on cellular theories, processes, and functions.

Cell Theory

Four basic concepts: cells are building blocks of plants and animals, smallest functioning units of life, produced through division of preexisting cells, and maintain homeostasis.

Cytoplasm

The material inside the cell, from the plasma membrane to the nucleus, containing cytosol and organelles.

Plasma Membrane

The outer barrier of the cell that separates the inside from the outside and regulates exchanges with the environment.

Osmosis

The diffusion of water molecules across a selectively permeable membrane from a solution with a high-water concentration to one with a low-water concentration.

Diffusion

The process where molecules move from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration.

Isotonic Solution

A solution where cells maintain their normal shape and volume due to no net movement of water.

Hypotonic Solution

A solution that has a lower concentration of solutes outside the cell, causing water to move into the cell, leading to swelling or lysis.

Hypertonic Solution

A solution that has a higher concentration of solutes outside the cell, causing water to move out of the cell, leading to crenation.

Endocytosis

A process where the cell takes in materials by engulfing them in vesicles at the cell surface.

Exocytosis

The process of moving material out of the cell by packaging substances in vesicles that merge with the membrane.

Active Transport

A process that requires energy (ATP) to move substances across the membrane against their concentration gradient.

Facilitated Diffusion

A passive process where carrier proteins assist in the movement of larger compounds down their concentration gradient.

Protein Synthesis

The process by which cells produce proteins, occurring in two stages: transcription and translation.

Mitosis

A type of cell division that separates and encloses duplicated chromosomes into two identical daughter nuclei.

Cell Differentiation

The process by which cells develop specialized functions and characteristics based on the genes that are expressed.