Chapter 6 Flashcards
Light Microscopes
Principles: a type of microscope that magnifies images by passing light through the specimen and then the glass lenses
Advantages: can magnify an image 1,000 times the actual size - can enhance contrast - inexpensive - can observe living cells - can observe through staining (which kills the cells)
Disadvantages: cannot observe most organelles because they are too small - smallest resolution is 200 nanometers
Scanning Electron Microscopes
Principles: Microscopes that shoot an electron beam onto the surface of a specimen
Advantages: provides 3D images of cells - is able to observe very small organelles
Disadvantages: kills cells - expensive and not portable
Transmission Electron Microscopes
Principles: Microscopes that shoot a beam of electrons through the specimen
Advantages: is able to study the internal ultrastructure of cells - gives more of a diagram/drawing looking image
Disadvantages: kills the cell - expensive and not portable - has to use staining
Cell Fractionation
- the process of taking apart cells and separating the major organelles and structures for observation
- enables scientists to determine and study organelle function
- achieved by homogenizing the cells first (blending them together) and then spinning the cells at varied speeds (centrifugation)
- the higher the speed, longer the time, and the more Gs applied, the smaller the organelles that will be separated
Prokaryotic Cells
- have no membrane bound organelles
- no nucleus but does have a nucleoid where DNA resides
- sometimes uses proteins in place of membranes
- the Archaea and Bacteria kingdoms are prokaryotic
Eukaroytic Cells
- have a nucleus with a double membrane (so four layers of membrane) called the nuclear envelope
- does have membrane bound organelles
- the Animal, Plant, Fungi, and Protists kingdoms are eukaryotic
- generally larger than prokaryotic cells
The 4 similarities between Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes
1) genetic material (DNA)
2) ribosomes
3) cytoplasm
4) cell membrane
Why are cells small?
- because maximizing surface area takes priority over the volume
- smaller = more surface area (compared to volume) (so increases surface area to volume ratio)
- if too small than organelles cannot function properly, or cannot fit
- if a cell is too big, the volume increases and the surface area cannot keep up with its expansion which makes it hard for materials to enter and waste to leave fast enough without killing the cell
- “the logistics of carrying out cellular metabolism sets limits on the size of cells”
Compartmentalization
- the term used to describe how organelles are membrane bound; allows them to be separated with a specific job and function so that they can work together to keep the cell alive and effective
- allows different and incompatible process to happen at the same time
- in eukaryotes only
Plasma membrane (simplified)
- selectively permeable membrane that surrounds the cell
- allows sufficient passage of oxygen, nutrients, and waste to service the volume of the cell
- a bilayer of phospholipids
Nuclear envelope
- encloses nucleus and separates it from cytoplasm
- double membrane, so four layers - inner membrane and outer membrane
- contains pores made of ribosomes that can open and close to regulate the transfer of molecules between nucleus and cytoplasm
- continuous with the endoplasmic reticulum
Nucleus
- holds DNA in eukaryotic cells
- ribosomes take info from DNA to make ribosomes
- nucleolus in the center; here, rRNA combines with proteins to form the subunits of protein synthesis ribosmes
Explain protein synthesis
- ribosomes take information from the DNA in the nucleus and follow the instructions to carry out protein synthesis
- it happens in the cytosol (free ribosomes) and on the surface of the nuclear envelope or the rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER) (bound ribosomes)
- rRNA combines with proteins to form the subunits of the ribosome in the nucleolus
- DNA is transcribed into a single mRNA strand, then tRNA translates the mRNA to build chains of amino acids that grow to form proteins, this is done inside a ribosome which is rRNA
Ribosomes
Structure: Larger subunit on top and smaller subunit on bottom
- made of RNA and protein
- makes protein; the cell’s proteins synthesis site
- reads messenger RNA (mRNA) sequence and translates that genetic code into a specified string of amino acids, which grow into long chains to form proteins
What are the components of the endomembrane system and how are they connected?
Components: Nuclear envelope, Endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, Lysosomes, Vacuoles, Plasma membrane
- connected by being continuous with each other (aka being directly connected) or via transfer by vesicles