Microscopes, Cells, and Cellular Structure

This set of flashcards covers key terms and concepts from the lecture notes on microscopes, cellular structures, and cell theory.

Compound light microscope

A microscope that uses visible light and glass lenses to magnify specimens, allowing the observation of living or preserved cells.

Electron microscope

A microscope that uses electrons instead of light, providing much higher resolution to view very small structures like organelles and viruses, though specimens must be dead.

Magnification

The process of making an image appear larger compared to its actual size.

Resolution

The ability to see two close objects as separate and to distinguish fine detail.

Cell fractionation

A laboratory technique used to separate different cell components (organelles) for individual study.

Prokaryotic cells

Cells that are smaller and simpler, lacking a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles, with DNA located in a nucleoid region.

Eukaryotic cells

Larger and more complex cells that contain a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles such as mitochondria.

Cytoskeleton

A network of protein fibers in the cytoplasm that maintains cell shape, provides mechanical support, and enables cell movement.

Microtubules

Hollow tubes made of tubulin proteins that maintain cell shape, organize organelles, and are involved in cell division.

Plasma membrane

A thin, flexible boundary that surrounds the cell, controlling what enters and leaves, and maintaining the internal environment.

Cell wall

A rigid, protective layer outside the plasma membrane found in plant cells, fungal cells, and some protists, providing support and shape.

Plasmodesmata

Small channels in plant cell walls that connect neighboring cells, allowing the movement of water, ions, and small molecules.

Extracellular matrix (ECM)

A network of proteins and carbohydrates located outside the plasma membrane in animal cells that provides structural support and facilitates communication.

Integrins

Transmembrane proteins that connect the ECM to the cytoskeleton inside the cell, affecting behavior and function.

Emergent properties

Characteristics that arise when individual cell parts interact and work together, resulting in functions that individual components cannot perform alone.

Endosymbiont theory

The hypothesis that mitochondria and chloroplasts originated as separate prokaryotic organisms that were engulfed by ancestral eukaryotic cells.