Archive for category: Biology blogs

Introduction 

Cell organelles are specialized structures that act like a digestive system which takes in nutrients, break them down and creates rich molecules for the cell. The specialized/organized structures help turn the energy we take as food into energy that cell can use. The biochemical activity of the cell is known as cellular respiration. The organized structures are the working organelles that keep the cell full of energy. These structures are also known as powerhouse. 

They are present in nearly all human cell and are important for human existence. These structures produce most of our adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is like the energy currency of the cell. These structures form constituency of eukaryotic cells.

Each cell contains different number of these organized structures. The numbers present depends on how much the cell needs energy. Those that need a lot of energy like thew cell contains a lot, but those that don’t need a lot of energy contain very little. These Microorganisms have the ability to produce more cell organelle as needed and also combine them to make large cell organelle.

Function of Cell organelle 

1. Energy production. cell organelle converts the food we eat into energy form that cell can use. This activity is known as oxidative phosphorylation. cell organelle is the only place oxygen is reduced and eventually broken into water. 

2. Cell death; cell organelle helps to decide which micro-organisms are destroyed, as the micro-organismsbecome old or broken then destroyed and cleared away. Cell death is an essential in life, it’s also known as apoptosis. cell organelle produces cytochrome C, which activate caspase one of the catalysts in wrecking micro-organisms during apoptosis. 

3. Storing Calcium; this ingredient is important in a number of cellular processes like fertilization, blood clotting, thew function and many others. Therefore its critical making it tightly regulated. cell organelle plays a major role in absorption of the above ingredients particles and storing them until when needed. These work very closely with endoplasmic reticulum to limit the amount of the above ingredient in cytosol. 

4. Heat production; in the course of nucleon leak, cell organelle can produce high temperature. Its one of theway the body generates heat by using brownish-yellow tissues, which are found in babies, who have the highest level of it and slowly reduces as they age. 

Structure of Cell organelle 

Cell organelles are small, regularly between 0.75 and 3 micrometer, not visible under microscope unless and are stained. Cell organelles are a small structure within a cell and are made up of two parts; the membrane and the matrix. 

They have two membranes an outer one and an inner one which have different functions. cell organelle is split into different regions which include; 

Outer membrane 

This outer portion include protein known as porins, which forms channels that allows protein to pass through. It also host a number of enzymes. Small molecules can pass through the outer membrane. 

Intermembrane space 

This is the area between the inner and outer membrane 

Inner membrane 

This is where proteins are held. There is no porins in the membrane, therefore, it’s impermeable to most mole. The Inner membrane 

is where most ATP are created. 

Cristae 

These are folds of the inner membrane. Cristae increase the surface area of the membrane hence, increasing the space available for chemical reaction. 

Matrix 

This is the space within the inner membrane. It contains hundreds of catalysts and it’s important in production of ATP. cell organelle DNA is housed here. 

Granules 

They control concentration of particles in cell organelle. Granules contain ribosome which produce protein used by cell organelle. 

Cell organelle are constantly dividing (fission) and bonding (fusion) though oval in shape. Organelles are linked together in every changing network. In sperm cells, cell organelle are spiraled and in mid-piece to provide energy for tail motion. 

The DNA within cell organelle is more susceptible to damage than any related genome, because free radical, which cause damage in DNA are produced when carrying out ATP synthesis. 

Majority of cell organelle disease are due to mutation in nuclear DNA that affect products that end up in cell organelle. The mutation can either be inherited or spontaneous. 

When cell organelle stop functioning, their storage starved of energy. As a general rule micro-organisms that need the highest amount of energy such as the cardiac muscle are affected the most by malfunctioning cell organelle. 

Chloroplasts in a cell are the sites where photosynthesis takes place. These sites are however not found in all cells of a body but rather only in the photosynthetic cells such as algae and plant cells. Therefore, you cannot find such cells in bacterial or animal cells. 

Structuring of the chloroplasts 

Those chloroplasts which are featured in higher plants generally are planoconvex or biconvex shaped. Chloroplasts as well can be located in the mesophyll of a cell which is found in the leaves of a plant. For different plants, the shapes of the mitochondria are also different varying from ovoid or discoid to saucer-shaped filamentous shape to spheroid shape. The center of chloroplast is colorless and chloroplasts are vesicular. Some of these sites are structured in such a way that they look like a club whereby the middle zone is thin with ends full of chlorophyll. For algae, the chloroplast is one large site which resembles a stellate plate or rather a spiral band, a network plate. Same cell type has the same number of chloroplast but sizes vary with different plant species. 

Function of chloroplast

The chloroplast has various functions and such include: 

Chloroplast absorbs light energy then converts that energy to biological form of energy. The chloroplasts are important organelles in plant cells as it that allows for process of photosynthesis to happen. Some protists such as algae also have chloroplasts. Each chloroplast contains chlorophyll, which is a green coloring matter, which converts absorbed light energy from sun to chemical energy which can form sugars such as glucose. This is how food is produced in green plants. Therefore, animal cells do not have chloroplast as they obtain food and nutrients from plants. 

The function of chloroplasts which is photosynthesis is divided into two reaction, that is the light and dark reactions. Light reactions occur on thylakoid membranes. These membranes absorb light energy and store it as chemical energy in NADPH form, a form of NADP+ and ATP. This ATP forms that energy used to support dark reactions. That energy is then stored in H+ protons and used later to produce energy in ATP form. Two protein complexes are involved in photosynthesis and they are referred to as photosystems. Therefore, those two photosystems capture light energy and use it to energize those electrons obtained from water and then release energy in those electron transport chain for the mitochondrion. 

Hydrogen ions are then pumped by energy of from electrons obtained from water. A concentration gradient would be created, meaning there would be more hydrogen ions inside thylakoid membrane than in stroma. The hydrogen ions would then go back to stroma against cconcentration gradient through ATP synthase which produces ATP. Since that first photosystem reenergizes depleted electrons from photosystem II which photolyzes water to obtain and energize new electrons. This means that photosystem II occurs first followed by photosystem I. ATP which is needed for the dark reactions is hence produced inside the stroma through a process as well referred to as Calvin cycle. This process is a series of reactions which fix carbon dioxide into Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate molecules. This reaction uses energy and electrons from ATP and NADPH respectively produced in light reactions. Ironically, in most plants, these processes occur daytime despite being called dark reactions. 

The first enzyme which is used in Calvin cycle is called RuBisCO and it is used for fixing CO2 into five-carbon Ribulose bisphosphate (RuBP) molecules to form 3-phosphoglyceric acid. 3-phosphoglyceric acid is then converted to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate using ATP and NADPH. Most of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate molecules are taken back into RuBP to produce more ATP molecules, but one usually leaves that cycle. 

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate molecules can combine to form larger sugar molecules called monomers like glucose, galactose, and fructose. These single sugar molecules can also double up to form disaccharides like maltose, sucrose, and lactose. More than two to six monomers combined form oligosaccharides. More than six to a thousand monomers together form polysaccharides such as cellulose and starch. Therefore, this is how food is formed. Carbohydrates are essential for anybody as they are energy-givers, thus it is essential to know how they are formed. Chloroplasts are very vital organelles more so when we are taking about the good health of plants. 

Plant life is very important to our world. Without plants there would be no air, no food and no homes for many plant species. Plants do so much for our world. So, it’s very important that we understand what they are and what they do. One way that we can understand plants is by knowing how they function. This is why we should learn about chloroplast. Keep in mind that chloroplast is not only found in plant life but in algae as well. Keep reading to discover what chloroplast is and how it helps plants to grow and thrive. 

How do plants make food? 

Plants make their own food from the sun through the process of photosynthesis. However, they need certain things to make their own food. Plants must have chlorophyll, light, carbon dioxide, water and nutrients. The chlorophyll is a green pigment in plants. Chlorophyll traps the sunlight’s energy. It then combines the element such as carbon dioxide, water and nutrients into a food substance for plants to consume. This process is called photosynthesis and chlorophyll is critical to this process. 

Chloroplasts are also a part of the photosynthesis process. They are organelles that are contained within the plant’s cells. Chloroplast are important for absorbing sunlight and they also play a role with transforming the elements of water and carbon dioxide into food. 

What is the difference between chloroplast and chlorophyll? 

Chlorophyll is just a green substance that is found in plants. Once again, it is needed to trap the sunlight so that photosynthesis can take place. Chloroplast is a plant organelle which is a specialized part of a cell. In the case of a plant, the organelle known as chloroplast is where the photosynthesis process takes place. The chloroplast contains the chlorophyll that is needed to make the photosynthesis process work. The chloroplast is also a membrane. 

Do humans and animals have chloroplasts? 

No, humans or animals do not have chloroplasts. That is because humans and animals do not need direct sunlight to make food. Instead, they ingest or consume their food from other sources. Most plants just don’t consume other organisms for food. However, there are exceptions to this rule. Some plant species do digest other living things such as insects. Still, these organisms need the photosynthesis process to make food as well. 

What are the functions of chloroplast? 

We already discovered that chloroplasts are the food producers for plant life. Now, we’ll take a look at how these organelles perform other functions that are important to the life of plants. Chloroplast make metabolic energy. They also are developed through the process of endosymbiosis. They even have their genetic systems and they produce themselves through the procedure of cell division. 

Chloroplasts also have the ability to synthesize amino acids, fatty acids and lipid components. They typically do this inside of their membrane as well. This organelle also converts nitrite into ammonia for the purpose of including nitrogen into organic compounds that the plant can use. 

Chloroplast doesn’t just make food for plants it also creates oxygen. As you all know, humans, animals and other types of creatures on the planet need oxygen to live. During photosynthesis carbon dioxide is taken in through chloroplast controlled photosynthetic processes. Once the process is complete, one of the waste materials from this procedure is oxygen. 

Oxygen is actually produced through the chemical reaction when the photosynthesis process takes place. It leaves a plant through its leaves and its then circulated into the air. Keep in mind that plants will grow very well when they have lots of sunlight, water and good soil. These elements are essential to growing lots of food or even super-sized crops. 

Chloroplasts also have the ability to move around a leaf to align themselves with the direction of the sun. Have you ever noticed how plants will usually grow or “move” toward the direction of the sun? Part of this movement happens because chloroplasts are trying to get the best position to take in the most sun. 

Remember, the more light that a plant receives, the more food it can create. So, it is not unusual to see plants repositioning themselves for more light. The chloroplast makes sure that this happens. In closing, chloroplast is an important part of a plant’s system that allows this life form to grow and thrive within its environment. 

What are Lysosomes?

Lysosomes are known to be the digestive system body cell. They are sac-like structures that hold enzymes which help in the digesting of materials are foreign in the body. Also called suicide bags, these organelles are breaking down and digesting damaged and worn-out cells. 

Definition: Lysosomes are animal cell organelles which are membrane-bound. They possess a phospholipid bilayer on its single outer membrane. The bi-phospholipid layer has one half that avoids water – hydrophobic the other half loves water- hydrophilic. The membrane has enzymes and acids that can decompose and digest macromolecules. 

Creation of Lysosomes 

The lysosomes are made by organelles known as Golgi Bodies or Apparatus. The Golgi apparatus is mostly found in eukaryotic cells. The body of the Golgi apparatus makes vesicles, which bud from the organelle and become the main lysosomes. Secondary lysosomes can also be made through a process called fusion. The fusion process involves combining of vesicles with primary lysosomes in the cell membrane to make secondary lysosomes. 

Lysosomes Structure 

• The outer layer has a single membrane and bi-phospholipid layer which can fuse with different organelles that are membrane-bound.

• It has a spherical shaped structure with a one-micrometre diameter.

• In one lysosome, you can find several enzyme molecules.

• Acid hydrolases which are lysosomes enzymes work best in an acidic environment. The cytosol is an intracellular fluid which surrounds organelles. 

Main advantages of lysosomes 

The general function of lysosomal particles is to break down or break down large molecules. That involves treating worn out and old parts of the cell to recycle its components and make harmful bacteria or toxins safe by breaking them. They process many holes that move inside or outside the cell, which guarantees trouble-free operation. Lysosomes are basically waste disposal units or cell recycling in this sense. 

Self-accusation refers to how the material is divided or digested within the cell. The organelles within the cell fade with time, and when they erode, the lysosome is destroyed, so that the large molecules that make it up can be used to create structures and other organisms. The structures called phagocytes are created, which encapsulate the material to be decomposed. 

The fundamental particles bind to the lysosome fusing them with the lysosome membrane. After this, the pharynx is divided into oneself. While self-involvement refers to the process that leads to the degradation of substances within the cell, the pharynx involves the digestion of contents outside the body of the cell. 

The cellular output is how the cellular material is left via the cell membrane. Energy from the ATP is applied to transfer content that contains an extracellular space. The lysosomes responsible for this process are called secretory lysosomes. 

Gaps that contain a variety of different substances are found outside the cell, and once the cell membrane is absorbed via the cell membrane, it fuses with the gaps and begins to digest them. The extracellular cavities can contain a variety of different compounds. For example, white blood cells are types of macrophages. The cells protect the body of the invaders, killing harmful bacteria or substances. 

Bio-synthesis, the process by which materials are recycled for later use, is mainly done in particles. Lysosomes also destroy dead cells, where their large molecules are collected to produce new organs and cells, in a process known as self-degradation. 

Homogeneous grafts can also include pumpkin and core processes. The hippocampal process is how cells absorb the extracellular fluid and play an essential role in the immune system because it allows immunological monitoring. Endocytosis is how cells can take molecules connected to the outer cell. It is an active form of transport, and cells are disseminated to absorb extracellular molecules. The digested particles are sent to the lysosomes to destroy them. 

Lysosomes defects 

Because lysosomes are an integral part of cell health, they can break down the material and create new ones outside of the elements. Malfunction of lysosomes can lead to problems such as the accumulation of excess sugars or fat. Lysosomal storage disorders generally cause defective genes, and children can inherit one or both faulty genes from their parents. 

Lysosomal storage diseases can kill cells with time, affecting the working of many various organs. Lysosomes are very important for cellular health. If the cell does not contain the lysosomes, it will not be able to break down the components of the old and dead cells, and will not be able to digest and break down the proteins. For these reasons, animal cells depend on their lysosomes. 

A cell wall is a semi-permeable and rigid protective layer that is found next to the cell membrane. It is present in plant cells, bacteria, algae, and fungi. It is important to note that animal cells do not have a plasma membrane. This article emphasizes on the top functions of the cell membrane. 

1. Provide Mechanical Strength 

The cellulose cell wall is made of hard materials such as chitin and other hard components that ensure that it is a sturdy material. It derives its strength from cellulose microfibrils, hence allowing it to exert mechanical strength on the plant. It has a skeletal framework, which is not present in other cell membranes that help it to remain in a rigid and definite shape. 

Cell walls use this definite shape and the hard shells to provide mechanical strength to the plant. Cellulose cell walls are also hardened through lignifications, which is a process of adding lignin to the cell wall hence making it tough while at the same time giving it the structural strength of a woody plant. The strength and rigidity of the whole plant depend on the mechanical strength provided by the cell wall. 

2. Maintaining the Shape of the Cell 

Plant cells, which have cellulose cell walls have a definite shape, which is brought about by the presence of a cell wall. The hard outer shell does not become flaccid when the cell loses water. Mostly, lignin and pectin, which are the major components of the cell wall, maintain a rigid structure that allows the cell to maintain a definite shape. Only the isolated protoplast becomes flaccid after losing water. If plant cells were to lose shape, plants would fall. 

This explains why plant cells have to maintain a definite shape at any given time. It is essential to highlight that animal cells don’t have a distinct shape because they do not have a cell wall. Animal cells become flaccid every time they lose water and bulge after gaining water through osmosis. 

3. Controls Cell Expansion 

For growth to occur in plants, cell expansion is necessary. This happens at earlier stages of plant growth. However, growth and expansion of the cells is a controlled process which takes a more extended period. Cell walls are at the center of the cell growth and expansion. For a young plant, cell walls control turgor pressure from within and prevent any chances of cell bursting. This means that anytime the cells gain water, they will expand, but they will not burst. 

In a mature plant, growth and expansion are not necessary. Lignin is therefore added to the cell wall to prevent any expansion. Lignin makes the cell very hard such that it cannot succumb to the turgor pressure generated from within the cell. Maximum growth has been realized, which explains why growth is not needed. 

4. Controls Intracellular Transport 

Transport of important chemical materials has to take place between cells. However, the transfer of materials from one cell to the other is controlled by the cell wall. Very many substances are transported between the adjacent cells, and all have to pass through the cellulose cell wall. The cell wall allows the movement of the very small ions, molecules, and small protein. However, if the materials under transport are very big or are harmful, the cell wall forms a sieve, which prevents these materials from entering through the cell membrane. 

5. Acts as a Reservoir of Food 

Seeds contain a substantial amount of food that will support the seed during the germination process up to the time when it will start performing photosynthesis. In most cases, most of the food and other nutritional requirements are stored on the cell wall. Other foods form a significant proportion of the cell wall. This explains why the cell wall disappears several weeks after the seed germinates. 

6. Protection 

Protection is one of the primary functions of the cell wall and underlines its importance in plant cells. Fungi, bacteria, virus, and other pathogenic microorganisms will always try to attack the cells for food and other benefits. The cell wall triggers the necessary mechanisms to make sure that these organisms don’t get a chance to attack the cell membrane. Cellulose cell walls are known to have both passive and active defense mechanisms that prevent an attack against plant cells.