Introduction to eukaryotic cell components
The important organelles to know for the final exam
Overview:
This page is about the wonderful ways in which the Eukaryotic cell is able to organise and coordinate complicated chemical reactions. In short, organelles and membranes.
Relevant VCAA 2022 Study Design Dot Points:
Learning Objectives:
By the end of this page you should be able to:
- Correctly label essential components of Eukaryotic cells (plasma membrane, ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, vesicles)
- Define the role of each essential component of Eukaryotic cells (plasma membrane, ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, vesicles)
Structures within the Eurkaryotic cell
Describe the major differences between prokaryote and eukaryote cells.
Eukaryote cells contain membrane bound organelles and a nucleus (which contains the cells DNA), whereas prokaryote cells do not contain any membrane bound organelles or a double-layered membrane around their DNA.
Plant Cell Outline, Credit: Isobel Beasley, and Andreas Dorsch 2020
Introductory understanding questions
Try to answer the questions yourself before reading the provided answers. The questions and answers provided here are colloquial - they’re not meant to be representative of exam formatting.
What is a cell?
A cell is the most basic unit of life.
Ok, sure but what does that mean?
It means that the cell is the smallest building block that all living things have in common.
More detailed explanation from an 'Introduction to the cell' by Khan Academy
What do cells do?
Everything you need to survive. Make proteins. Sort and organise molecules. Break down materials to obtain energy. Remove waste. Respond to infection with viruses. All of it
How do they do all these roles?
Through the magic of project management. No seriously, by having organelles cells can assign tasks, organise, sort and build materials - to perform all the jobs a cell has. We'll go into more detail about what I mean by this below.
Why should I care about cells?
Hopefully because you're made of them. Because you need them to survive. Because they're really really tiny blobs of different shapes, sizes, roles, and which manage and run billions of different chemical reactions which are happening in you right now. Cells are the reason that you can be here right now reading this. Thank you cells!How do organelles help Eukaryote cells do their jobs? (~15 minute activity)
Ok, imagine for a second you are cell project manager.
The organism you are a part of has asked you to make a really big house shaped molecule made of protein bricks. The protein bricks are many different shapes and size - and make up different parts of the house. Once the protein house is build you also need to ship it to another cell.
How on earth are you going to deliver this project, quickly and in an organised fashion?
Use the organelles and their listed roles below to plan this project.
Organelles at your disposal
Nucleus
The Nucleus Where all the protein brick blueprints are held. Blueprints are converted into easy to transport but temporary paper booklets.
Endoplasmic Reticulum
The Endoplasmic Reticulum Moves materials around the cell.
Vesicle
Vesicle: Ships big materials out of the cell.
Ribosomes
Ribosomes: Where protein bricks get made by reading instructions from paper booklets.
Golgi Appartus
The Golgi Apparatus: Sorts, modifies and organises materials in preparation for shipping outside the cell.
Exam friendly explanations of each organelles role
- Ribosomes: the site of protein synthesis
- Proteins made in the rough Endoplasmic reticulum are transported out of the cell.
- Proteins produced on free ribosomes are used within the cell
- Endoplasmic reticulum (Rough & Smooth): Internal transport for materials through membrane-bound channels.
- Rough: Site of protein synthesis (called rough because ribosomes are on the surface), folding of polypeptide chain occurs in the lumen of the rough endoplasmic reticulum [inner areas]
- Smooth: Site of lipid and membrane synthesis
- Golgi Apparatus (or Golgi Bodies): Sorting, storing and modification of materials for transport outside of the cell via exocytosis
- Vesicles : As above, The Golgi Apparatus packages materials into vesicles, which are excreted externally via exocytosis
Help! I'm stuck ⚠️
Google is your friend and so is the below video:
Parts of a cell
If you're a superstar who's already done 💫
Translate the listed organelle roles below into VCAA friendly definitions. Go to the next activity and see if you can now label some organelles!
Let's Label Some Organelles: (~5 mins)
This lesson's TL;DR
- Cells are super cool building blocks of life
- Eukaryotic cells contain organelles (membrane bound cellular structure that perform a specialised roles)
- VCAA (and your teachers) will expect you to know the roles of important organelles (plasma membrane, ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, vesicles)