Structure and Function of Cells

1. Structure and Function of Cells

2. Plant Cells Plant cells are very different from animal cells. They have cell walls that keep the cell in a brick-like shape. They also have chloroplast organelles, which are basically like solar panels that use the sun’s energy to change carbon dioxide and water into sugars. Plant cells also have extremely large vacuoles, which are the storage houses of the cell. Plant cells are always autotrophs.

3. Animal Cells Animal cells are very unique. They have no real definite shape, and move with appendages called cilia and flagellum. Cilia are little hair-like nubs all around the cell that are used like feet for the cell. Flagellum are like whips that pull the cell towards its destination. Animal cells also have very small vacuoles and two organelles called centrioles. Centrioles help the cell reproduce and organize the cell. They are also heterotrophs.

4. Animal and Plant Cells Cont. While they are in many ways different, animal and plant cells have lots of similarities. They both are considered the building blocks of life and hold the “blueprints of life” in their nuclei. They also both have cell membranes, cytoplasts, mitochondria, golgi bodies, and ribosomes, all of which will be explained later in the presentation.

5. Organelles • Organelles are pieces of a cell with individual purposes allowing the cell to function properly. They are similar to organs inside your body. Organelles are responsible for keeping the cell alive and preforming its basic functions. Mitochondria, for example, are rod like and are often called the power houses of the cell, because they create the energy needed for the cell to live, much like an engine. Another organelle is called the Endoplasmic Rectum, or ER for short. The ER is used as a passageway that carries things like proteins from one part of the cell to another, like how a train station takes you quickly from one place to another.

6. Organelles Cont. • Ribosomes are used to produce all different kinds of proteins and are often found in the ER. They act a lot like factories that produce lots of useful things. Golgi Bodies receive proteins, package them, and send them, just like a mailroom. Lysosomes are small and round, and act like janitors because they break down food particles and old cell parts.

7. Organelles cont. • The cell membrane is used to control what goes in and what comes out through its pores, much like how a screen keeps bugs out. The cytoplasm is a gel like substance that basically fills all empty space in the cell and provides a place for the other organelles to stay. The nucleus is basically the brain of the cell, and, like the brain, has many different parts. The nucleus is protected by nuclear membrane, which is a denser version of the cell membrane. Inside of the nucleus there are many strands of chromatin, which carry the genetic instructions of the cell, and there is the nucleolus, which is used to create ribosomes.

8. Single Celled Organisms All organisms are composed of cells and many of these organismsare unicellular, or single celled. Single celled organisms are, as the name may lead you to believe, organisms that live and function with only one cell. Some examples of these organisms are: Phytoplankton, green algae, and yeast. Also called microorganisms

9. How They Work Single celled organisms function very similarly to you, even though they carry out all their functions using one cell. They extract energy from food, get rid of waste, and reproduce. The lysosomes break down food that enters the cell and the mitochondria convert it into useable energy. Later the food waste either floats out the cell or to lysosomes that break down the waste.

10. How they work continued… Cells often reproduce using binary fission, or copying of DNA and cell splitting. Another form of cell reproduction is called mitosis, a process of duplication of the material of a cell.

11. Cell Function and structure Q&A How do single celled organisms understand how to survive? There is genetic information stored in the nucleus that acts as a code telling the cell how to function.

12. Cell function and structure Q&a • What would happen if a cell had no mitochondria? • The cell would not have enough energy to function, and all other organelles would slowly shut down until the cell dies. • How are cells like smaller versions of humans? • Cells have many different parts that are needed to function and adapt to changes in their environment, just like us.

13. Links http://library.thinkquest.org/12413/structures.html http://www.ehow.com/info_8543654_list-singlecell-organisms.html http://www.thefreedictionary.com/microorganisms http://melecularkitchen.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/proof-it-what-you-need-to-know-about-yeast/ http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/green_algae.htm http://nofishleft.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/phytoplankton-loss-could-spell-disaster-for-marine-ecosystems/ http://bio.rutgers.edu/~gb101/lab2_mitosis/index2.html

14. links • http://cfeil.tripod.com/vacuoles.htm • http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/biology/chloroplast.html • http://www.biology4kids.com/files/cell_centriole.html • http://mederigamamv.blogspot.com/p/characteristics-of-plant-cells-and.html • http://sln.fi.edu/qa97/biology/cells/cell3.html • http://ajweinmann.wordpress.com/lysosomes/ • http://www.lhsc.on.ca/Patients_Families_Visitors/Genetics/Inherited_Metabolic/Mitochondria/AllAboutMitochondria.htm • http://biologos.org/blog/self-assembly-of-the-bacterial-flagellum-no-intelligence-required