Chapter 3: Cell Structure and Internal Compartments

 Of the hundreds of trillions of cells in your body, only a fraction is

actually you.
 Symbiosis: A relationship in which organisms of different species live
together in close association.
 Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells are both bounded by a plasma
membrane that encloses an aqueous cytoplasm, but eukaryotic cells
have a greater variety of internal membrane-enclosed compartments.
KEY CONCEPTS
 All living organisms are made up of one or more basic units called cells.
 Most cells are small. Small size optimizes surface area relative to volume.
 Multicellularity makes possible a larger body size and division of labor
among the different types of cells.
 The plasma membrane forms the boundary of a cell, controls the
movement of materials in and out of the cell, and determines how the
cell communicates.
 Prokaryotes are single-celled organisms that lack a nucleus. Eukaryotes
are single-celled or multicellular organisms whose cells have a nucleus
and several other internal compartments.
 The membrane-enclosed compartments of the eukaryotic cell have
diverse and specialized functions.
 The cytoskeleton is a network of protein cables and cylinders that
facilitates internal transport, gives shape and mechanical strength to a
cell, and enables it to move.
 Cell: The smallest and most basic unit of life, the fundamental building
block of all living things.
 3.1 Cells: The Smallest Units of Life
 Cell Theory: The theory that every living organism is composed of one or
more cells, and that all cells living today came from a preexisting cell.
 Ever cell has an aqueous interior that contains many different types of
biomolecules, surrounded by plasma membrane.
 Plasma membrane: the phospholipid bilayer that forms the outer
boundary of any cell.
 Cytoplasm: The contents of a cell enclosed by the plasma membrane but,
in eukaryotes, excluding nucleus.
 Cytoplasm contains a thick fluid called cytosol.
 Cytosol: The water-based fluid component of the cytoplasm. In
eukaryotes, the cytosol consists of all the contents of a cell enclosed by
the plasma membranes, but excluding all organelles.
 Embedded in the cytosol, or adrift in it, are vital structures called
organelles.
 Organelle: A discrete cytoplasmic structure with a specific function. Some
cell biologists use the term only for membrane-enclosed cytoplasmic
compartments; others include other cytoplasmic structures, such as
ribosomes, in the definition.
 Ribosome: A minute organelle composed of proteins and RNA at which
new proteins are synthesized, Ribosomes can be either attached to the
endoplasmic reticulum or free in the cytosol.
 Ribosomes are the key components of the cell’s protein-making
machinery, are the minute organelles that lack membranes.
 Nucleus, found only in eukaryotic cells, contain DNA enveloped in double
membranes.
 Nucleus: The organelle in a eukaryotic that contains the genetic blueprint
in the form of DNA.

2
 Mitochondrion, often dubbed the powerhouse of the cell because it
supplies energy, is another example of an organelle bounded by two
membranes.
 Mitochondrion: An organelle with a double membrane that is the site of
cellular respiration in eukaryotes. Mitochondria break down simple
sugars to produce ATP in an oxygen-dependent (aerobic) process.
 Prokaryotes- bacteria and archaeans – are generally regarded as single-
celled organisms.
 The light microscope was invented in the last quarter of the sixteenth
century.
 The key components of early light microscopes were ground-glass lenses
that bent incoming rays of light to produce magnified images of tiny
specimen.
 The study of cells began in the seventeenth century when Robert Hooke
examined a piece of cork under a microscope and noticed that it was
made up of little compartments.
 Multicellularity enables larger body size and efficiency through division of
labor.
 Being big or small as a cell can have its pros and cons.
 Paramecium can ingest several thousand bacteria a day.
 Multicellular organism: An organism made up of more than one cell.
 The cells from a multicellular organism is identical because they arose
from a single cell.
 If the cells from a multicellular organism is separated, they would not be
able to survive on their own in nature.
 Adaptive benefits of multicellularity go beyond getting food or avoiding
becoming; multicellularity makes cell specialization possible.
 Cell specialization enables division of labor among the cells.
 The human body has 220 different types of cells.
 Why are most cells small? A larger cell has less surface area relative to its
volume and can’t exchange materials with its environment as efficiently
as a smaller cell.

3
 3.2 – The Plasma Membrane
 A key characteristic of every cell is the existence of a plasma membrane
separating that cell from its surrounding environment.
 The lipid boundary created by the plasma membrane has the effect of
enclosing and concentrating necessary raw materials in a limited space,
thereby facilitating chemical processes.
 The plasma membrane helps enable the cell to capture essential
molecules while shutting unwanted ones, releases waste products but
prevents needed molecules from leaving the cell, interacts with the
outside world by receiving and sending signals as necessary, and provides
an anchoring function for cells that are held firmly in place.
 The diverse functions of the plasma membrane are made possible chiefly
by the many different types of membrane proteins associated with, or
embedded in, the phospholipid bilayer.
 Selective permeability comes from the different types of proteins
embedded in the phospholipid bilayer: transport proteins, receptor
proteins, and adhesion proteins.
 Transport proteins are membrane-spanning proteins whose function is to
assist the import or export of substances.
 Some transport proteins form tunnels that allow passage of selected ions
and molecules.
 Receptor proteins act as sites for signal perception, and as such they are
key components of a cell’s communication system.
 Extracellular matrix (ECM): Most cells in the animal body are attached to
the other cells, or to a dense mat of biomolecules.
 Chains of sugars are covalently linked to the cell surface side of adhesion
proteins, and these carbohydrate groups help in both the recognition and
the interlinking that are necessary for cell attachment.
 Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body, and
destruction of collagen over time leads to wrinkling and sagging as we
age.

4
 Most plasma membrane proteins are free to drift within the plane of the
phospholipid bilayer.
 Fluid mosaic model: The concept of the plasma membrane as a
phospholipid bilayer containing a variety of other lipids and embedded
proteins, some of which can move laterally in the plane of the
membrane.

 3.3 – Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Cells

 Prokaryote: A single-celled organism that does not have a nucleus.
 Eukaryotes: A single-celled or multicellular organism in which each cell
has a distinct nucleus and cytoplasm.
 Prokaryotic cells, on average, are smaller than eukaryotic cells.
 The average eukaryotic cell has roughly a thousand times the volume of
the average prokaryotic cell.
 Most prokaryotes have a tough cell wall outside the plasma membrane
that helps maintain the shape and structural integrity of the organism.
 Plants, fungi, and some protists (most algae) have cell walls made of
polysaccharide, but the polysaccharides differ among these groups of
eukaryotes and differ yet again from those of prokaryotic cell walls.
 Animal cells lack a polysaccharide cell wall, but many of them are
encased in, or attached to, the meshwork of protein and carbohydrate
polymers that makes up the extracellular matrix.
