The Plant Cell
Eukaryotes: are cells that contains a nucleus, and organelles surrounded by a membrane.
Cell wall: provides support, double layered, and made from cellulose.
Cellulose cell walls: help distinguish plants from other organisms.
Plasmodesmata: allow the transport of substances from one cell to the next.
Cell Membrane: controls what enters and leaves the cell, found in ALL cells.
Cell Organelles:
Nucleus: stores genetic material, contains DNA, largest organelle, BRAIN of the cell.
Ribosomes: are RNA protein complexes composed of two subunits that join and attach to messenger RNA.
Endoplasmic reticulum: transports material through the cell.
Rough ER: studded with ribosomes, attached to nuclear membrane.
Smooth ER: lacks ribosomes, site of synthesis of phospholipids and packaging of proteins into vesicles.
Golgi apparatus: site where cell products are packaged for export.
Lysosomes: vesicles produced by the Golgi apparatus, contain digestive enzymes and involved in digestion of food particles, disease causing bacteria and worn-out cell parts. “Suicidal bags of the cell.”
Vacuole: found in PLANT and ANIMAL cells, acts a container, storing water dissolved particles.
Organelles with DNA:
Mitochondria: site of cell respiration, “powerhouse of the cell”
Chloroplasts: site of photosynthesis, are larger and complex than mitochondria, found ONLY in PLANTS.
Cytoskeleton: long slender protein tubes and fibers that extend from the nucleus to the plasma membrane. Structural support
Microfilaments, Microtubules, Intermediate filaments
Nucleolus: site where RNA is made, assembles ribosomes
Plastids: are classified and named on the kinds of pigments they contain
Chlorophyll: contain green pigment that absorbs sunlight in the first step of photosynthesis.
Chromoplasts: lack chlorophyll but synthesize and retain carotenoid pigments.
Leucoplasts: are non-pigmented plastids, upon exposure to light they may develop into chloroplasts.
Cell wall: protection, support.
Cytoskeleton: structural support, cell movement.
Flagella (Cilia): motility or moving fluids over surfaces.
Plasma membrane: regulates what passes into and out of cell; cell to cell recognition.
Endoplasmic reticulum (ER): forms compartments and vesicles: participates in protein and lipid synthesis.
Nucleus: control center of cell: directs protein synthesis and cell reproduction.
Golgi apparatus: package proteins for export from cell: forms secretory vesicls.
Lysosome: digest worn-out organelles and cell debris
Microbodies: isolate particular chemical activities from rest of cell.
Mitochondria: “Power plants” of the cell; sites of oxidative metabolism.
Chloroplasts: sites of photosynthesis.
Chromosomes: contain hereditary information.
Nucleolus: assembles ribosomes.
Ribosomes: sites of protein synthesis.