Cells Flashcards
5 kingdom classifications of life?
Plantae Fungi Animalia Protista Prokaryotae
Classification mainly based on morphology
3 domain classifications of life?
Bacteria
Archaea
Eukaryota
What are eukaryotic cells and what are prokaryote?
Eukaryote: Plants Animals Fungi Protoctisa
Prokaryote:
Bacteria and Archaea (both are monera)
Organisation of a bacterium?
Pilli Cell wall Plasma membrane Cytoplasm Nucleoid (DNA) (so no nucleus) Ribosomes Flagellum
Organisation of a eukaryotic cells?
Plasma membrane Golgi apparatus Peoxisome Mitochondrium Lysosome Enoplasmic reticulum Nuclear membrane Nucleus
Only cell that doesn’t have cell wall?
Animals
What extra do plants have?
Vacuole
Cell wall
Chloroplast
What extra do fungi have?
Cell wall
What is larger pro or eukaryote?
Eukaryote by far, also more complicated so theory that they developed after prokaryotes
A catalytic RNA molecule is called a?
Riboenzyme
Evidence RNA earlier than proteins?
RNA makes protein
RNA fundamental part of ribosome, whereas protein have just been added
How were the building blocks or RNA generated?
Random early earth conditions (eg lightening)
What could ribonucleotides bind together to form?
Replicase ribozymes which could make new replicases after polymerising on a clay surface
So can duplicate, due to temperature changes
How was a the lipid bi-layer in a cell made?
In Geysers, minerals catalyse the formation of fatty acids from hydrogen and carbon monoxide
Which have one end which hydrophilic (outside) and one is hydrophobic (inside) in a droplet known as micelles
Vesicle formation triggered by acidic pH or clay surfaces
What then occurs within the vesicle to from a protocell?
Flipping of fatty acids could bring in molecules, so they accumulate within the vesicle
The RNA replicase uses ribonucleotides to make a copy of another RNA replicase
Micelles fuse with the vesicle and enlarge it until it becomes unstable and divides
Random mistakes could lead to better replicases which could make protocol grow and divide faster
Protocell competes for resources driving evolution
What is the optical resolution limit and what does it rely on?
Minumum distance that allows recognition of object details
The optical resolution depends on the wave length of the light/beam used (smaller wave length = better resolution)
Features of light microscope?
Visible light ( wave length 390-700nm)
Glass lenses focus light
Resolution limit is 200 nm
Advantage is cells alive
Features of electron microscopy?
Electron beam ( wave length 0.0025 nm)
Electromagnetic lenses focus beam
Resolution limit 0.05 nm
Advantage is high resolution
Difference between scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)?
SEM:
Electron beam scans over surface of sample
Can produce 3d images
Image shown on monitor
TEM:
Electron pass through THIN sample
Samples specially prepared
2D image shown on fluorescent screen
What is freeze fracture electron microscopy?
Freeze cell in resin, cut in half and analysis
What is averaging in microscopy?
Averaging many images together allowing reconstruction of the ultra-structure
What is fluorescence?
The emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light
The emission will be at a higher wavelength than excitation (the initial light), energy is lost before light is emitted
Allows visualisation of single molecules
What is GFP?
A reporter to analyse proteins in the living cell
It fuses to the DNA which will make the protein - which are normally still functional
These proteins are transcribed
They are exposed to blue light and will appear green
Different colours discovered so can observe interactions between different proteins
Also quantitive information as brightness represents how many there are
Advanced use of fluorescent proteins
FRAP (fluorescent recovery after photobleaching):
High energy sent in, which photobleaches the gfp molecules so can’t reflect light, if molecules are moving they will move into it and it will light up again, if not then nothing is moving
FLIP Fluorescent loss in photobleaching:
Used to see if one protein moves to another, so photo bleach, and then see if this photo bleach area appears in the place we think it will move
Photoactivation (photo-activatble GFP):
400nmlaser light induces a chemical reaction
About 100 fold increase in fluorescence after photo-activation
So allows you to identify the proteins you want to, as they will give lots of light off as their gfp has been activated
Features of plasma membranes?
Contains specific proteins, lipids and sugars
Surrounds the cell
Phospholipids are amphiphatic (hydrohphillic and hydrophobic) and assemble into bio-membranes in the presence of water
Fatty acid tails are hydrophobic, phosphate groups are hydrophilic
Cholesterol reduces membrane fluidity at moderate temperature and avoids solidification at low temperature (Temperature buffer)
Cholesterol also serves as a hormone
What’s a lipid raft protein?
Membrane regions that assemble specialised lipids and proteins to perform a certain task (Normally show reduced fluidity)
Types of protein in plasma membrane?
Transporters
Enzymes
Receptors
Cell-cell recognition
Intracellular joining
Attachment to the extracellular matrix and intracellular cytoskeleton
What does bio-membranes being semipermeable lead to?
Uncharged and hydrophobic molecules can pass through the membrane
However charged or polar cannot pass, so require a mechanism to get in and out
Such as protein channels, which can be open or gated
Also can go through via facilitated diffusion (protein changes shape not let molecule through, it can’t go back and no ATP needed
Pumps can pump molecules through requires ATP
4 types of gated channels?
Voltage
Mechanically
Temperature
Ligand
What charge is in the inside of the membrane normally and how is it created?
-50 to -70mV
SOPI pumps, and leakage channels
Example of non excitable and an excited cell?
Epithelial
Muscle cells and neurones
What do cells in an epithelium establish?
Tight lateral and basal contact to withstand friction
Tight junctions are formed hold membranes of the cells together, functions as a diffusion barrier, and consists of plasma membrane proteins that interact
There are also here’s junctions, consists of cadherin and catenin, cadherins bridge between the cells, catenins link to the actin cytoskeleton, they both control actin organisation
Gap junctions allow diffusion from cytoplasm of one epithelial cell to another, made up of connexins
There are desmosomes, contain specialised Catherine proteins that interact with each other and with intermediate filaments, they resist shear force in epithelia
They are hemidesmosomes which contain man proteins that interact with the extracellular membrane, they anchor the epithelia cell to the basal lamina ( extracellular matrix underneath the epithelium, probably also used in signalling
Extracellular matrix is fibres of secreted proteins, and they hold tissue together, provides strength and directing cell migration
Describe a simple intracellular signalling pathway?
Extracellular signal molecule
Receptor protein, on plasma membrane of target cell
Intracellular signalling molecules released, either will be via phosphorylation of proteins by protein kinases and phosphatases, or signalling by GTP-binding proteins
Effector proteins:
Metabolic enzymes - altered metabolism
Gene regulatory protein - altered gene expression
Cytoskeleton - altered cell shape or movement
Describe signalling via GTP-binding proteins?
G-proteins are molecular switches
They are activated by a Guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF), and inactivated via a GTPase-activating protein(GAP)
Small monomeric G-proteins receive signals from many receptors
Large trimeric G-proteins interact with G-protein coupled receptors
What’s a kinase?
An enzyme that transfers phosphate groups from high-energy donor molecules, such as ATP, to specific substrates
Process is known as phosphorylation
What are phosphatases?
An enzyme that removes a phosphate group from a protein, a process called dephosphorylation
What can occur to protein kinases for the signal to be amplified and spread to other pathways?
Get phosphorylated themselves
Creates signalling cascade
Function of Cdk kinase?
Control of cell cycle progression
Function of Src-type kinase?
Control or regulate various biological functions
What do the particles and molecules undergo in cytoplasm?
Brownian motion - flickering movement due to collisions
What does diffusion in cytoplasm depend on?
Size of the molecule/organelle
Smaller they are the more they move
Diffusion is very limited to larger objects as it’s too crowded
Features of ribosomes?
Consist of 2 subunits (small and large) made from ribosomal RNA and proteins
Prokaryotes have 70 S (smaller)
Eukaryotes have 80 S (larger)
S (Svedbery value) stands for sedimentation rate of a particle - depends on mass density and shape
Translate information from mRNA into proteins
Basic steps of protein translation?
Matching tRNA to mRNA codon
Release of elongation factor
Formation of peptide bond
Elongation factor G triggers a forward movement of ribosome
What is a polysome?
Numerous ribosomes operating along a single mRNA molecule
What is the nucleus linked to?
The endoplasmic reticulum
Parts of the nucleus?
Euchromatin
Heterochromatin
Lamina
Nuclear pore
Features of nuclear pores?
have 8 fold symmetry
Made up of numerous proteins and control nuclear transport
Made up of nuclearporins
Gated, control what goes in and out
What goes in and out of the nucleus through the nuclear pores?
In (import):
Proteins
Out (export):
Proteins
RNAs
Ribosomal subunits
What happens to the nucleus during mitosis?
It releases its content so has to re-import it’s nuclear proteins
Also the nuclear envelope and the nuclear lamina disassemble:
Phosphorylation of lamins - breakdown
Dephosphorylation of lamina
Fusion of nuclear envelope fragments
Fusion of enveloped chromosomes
What’s the nuclear lamina and it’s functions?
Forms a network at the inner nuclear membrane
Consists of intermediate filaments (cytoskeleton)
It organises chromosomes and supports transcription of genes
Also anchors nuclear pores and prevents clustering
What does the nucleolus do?
Forms ribosomes
Contains granular components which is the ribosome assembly site
Contains fibrillar centres where rRNA transcription occurs
Ribosomal proteins are imported into the nucleolus, the assembled ribosomes are then exported into the cytoplasm
It’s not membrane bound just a gathering of material
DNA associates with proteins into?
Chromatin
Features of DNA in the nucleus?
Heterochromatin:
- Remains packed after mitosis
- Transcriptionally less active
- 8% of DNA
- 2 types
Consecutive Heterochromatin - Always packed, non-coding DNA near centromere and telomers)
Faculative heterochromatin - Variable between cell type and development stages
Then there is euchromatin which is 92% of DNA and transcriptionally active
When is all the DNA tightly packed?
Mitosis, makes it easier to transport
What does packing DNA require?
Being wrapped around positively charged proteins called histones
Organised into nucleosomes - which loosen during transcription
What does RNA polymerase 1 form?
rRNA
What does RNA polymerase 11 form?
mRNA
What does RNA polymerase 111 form?
tRNA
What does RNA polymerase in plants form?
siRNAS required for heterochromatin formation
Basic Principle of transcription?
Numerous transcription factors bind to the TATA box in the promoter (upstream of the gene)
RNA polymerase binds to the template strand and synthesises an exact copy of the coding strand (except thymines are replaced with uracil)
RNA is released, further processed and the released from the nucleus bound to RNA binding proteins
Do prokaryotes have a nucleus, and how does this make them different to Eukaryotes?
NO, so transcription and translation occur in the compartment, and many genes on one mRNA
Whereas in eukaryote transcription and translation are compartmentalised and, one mRNA per gene
What does the endomembrane system contain?
Nucleus Endoplasmic Reticulum Golgi apparatus Lysosome/vacoule Endosomal compartment Transport vesicles
All the compartments of the endomembrane system are connected by transport vesicles that serve material exchange
What do molecular motors do?
Transport vesicles and organelles within the cell, this is called membrane trafficking
They are enzymes that use ATP to walk along the cytoskeleton
What happens at membrane with transport vesicles?
Exocytosis or endocytosis
What is secretory pathway?
Going out of cell
What is the endocytic pathway?
Outside to a vesicle inside
2 types of endoplasmic reticulum?
Smooth (no ribosomes)
Rough (studded with ribosomes)
Function of smooth ER?
Calcium storage for signalling
Lipid synthesis
Detoxification of poisons
Metabolism of carbohydrates
What is the Golgi apparatus?
Disc shaped stack of membranes
Has Cis end which receives transport vesicles from ER
Trans end releases the secretory vesicles
What do oliogosacchardides do (sugar chains on membrane) and where are they processed?
Provide protection against pathogens
Serves in cell-cell recognition and signalling
Marks progression of protein
Helps folding and interaction with other proteins
Made in the golgi apparatus
2 ways oligosaccharides can be linked to proteins?
Asparagine (N-linked)
Threonine (O-linked)
3 types of endosomes which are involved in processing endocytose material?
Early endosome
Recycling endosome
Late endoscope
Describe endocytosis?
Formation of a vesicle at the plasma membrane
Fusion of vesicle with early endosome
Decision - degradation or recycling
If recycling - pH drop removes ligand, and the rest is taking out
Or Maturation of early endoscope to late endosome - which can send material to Golgi
Or Lare endosome could turn into a lysosome - this is degradation