Cells Structure and Function

What is a cell? Well the cell is the basic unit of function which are plants and animals made up. They are also the the smallest metabolically functional unit of life.


Like our human body that has organs, cells have also what we call set of "little organs," called, organelles . They are specialized for carrying out one or more vital functions. There are seventeen different kind of organelles. They are the nucleus, chromosome,nuceoli,microvilli,microfilament,microtubules,digestive vacouoles,rididual body,cilia,mitochonria,pinocytosis,pores,ribosomes,endo plasmic reticulum,chloroplasts, cell membrane and the cell wall. Each of them has also functions.


Here they are:


The nucleus is the cell's hereditary bearing core function within a thin memebrane called the nuclear envelope. The centrosome produces the microtubules of a cell - a key component of the cytoskeleton. It directs the transport through the ER and the Golgi apparatus. The nuceoli makes some important componenets of the ribosomes. While the microvilli promotes increaed absorption. The microfilaments give the cell some muscle and microtubules helps maintain the cell's shape and have role in its motion. The digestive vacoules and the residual body are some of the scavenger organelles, lysosomes. Not only consume foreign matter and dead parts of the cell but, in one normal growth process, eventually recycle the worn -out cell itself. The cilia acts as th liquid medium or means of locomotion of the cell. The motochondria play a critical role in generating energy in the eukaryotic cell, organelles that are modified chloroplasts; they are broadly called plastids, and are often involved in storage. Pinocytosis are the porters of the cell puts the material from the surface to the interior. The pores allow sustances to passto and from the cell's nucleus. While the ribosome (the protein production machine) is a large complex composed of many molecules, in prokaryotes only exist floating freely in the cytosol, whereas in eukaryotes they can be either free or bound to membranes. The endo plasmic reticulum (ER) is the transport network for molecules targeted for certain modifications and specific destinations, as compared to molecules that will float freely in the cytoplasm. While the chloroplasts carries out photosynthesis which provides the cell with food and our atmosphere with oxygen. The cell wall ia a layer surrounding a cell, located external to the cell membrane, that provides the cell with structural support, protection, and a filtering mechanism. Lastly the cell membrane surrounds the cytoplasm of a cell and physically separates the intracellular components from the extracellular environment, there by serving a mechanical function similar to that of skin.