Cell Structure and Functions

Course Instructor
Dr. Mahendra Ram
Department of Chemical and
Biochemical Engineering
Email: mahendra.cbe@iitp.ac.in

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY PATNA

 What is cell ?

 Cell is a smallest (but complex) unit of life and often referred as

“building block of life”.
 It is a basic structural, functional and biological unit of all living
organisms.
 Cells make up living things and carry out activities that keep a living
thing alive.
 Organelles: specialized structures within the cells and perform
specific functions.
 Cells come only from existing cells.
 Cell was first discovered in cork cells (dead plant) by a British
scientist Robert Hooke in 1665.

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Cell specificity

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Kingdom for classification of living organisms

Bacteria and
cyanobacteria (green-
blue algae)
Basis of classifications

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Properties of the Five Kingdoms

or unicellular
Cell theory timeline

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Cell theory timeline

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Cell theory timeline

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 Unicellular Organisms

• These are made up of only one cell.

• Examples: yeast, bacteria, amoeba, paramecium, euglena, etc.

Euglena Paramecium Yeast

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 Multicellular Organisms

• These are made up of more than one cell.

• Examples: animals, plants, fungi, etc.

Plants Animals Fungus

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Size and shape of cells

These are bacteria that

lack cell wall

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Size of cells in humans

Smallest cell Largest cell Longest cell

Sperm cell (in male) Ovum cell (in female) Nerve cell
Size: ~ 5 micron Size: ~ 120 micron Size: 1 m

Gamete (reproductive cells)

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 Shape of cells
 Cells vary in shape, commonly spherical or cuboidal.
 Variation depends on function of the cell.
 Some cells like Euglena and Amoeba can change their shape but most cells have fixed
shape. Ex. Muscle cells are cylindrical or spindle for movement of body parts.

Human RBCs are circular bi- Nerve cells are branched to Human WBCs can change their shape
conclave for easy passage conduct impulses from one to engulf the microorganisms that
through human capillaries point to another. enter the body.
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 Cell diversity (Prokaryotic vs. Eukaryotic cells)

Prokaryotes
 Pro (before) + Karyone (nucleus)
 These are single-celled microorganisms which do not contain a
distinct nucleus and membrane bound organelles, therefore, DNA is
not contained within an envelope.
 divided into two domains: Archaea and Bacteria
 Surrounded by a cell membrane and cell wall made up of
peptidoglycan (polymer of sugar and protein).
 Typically ~ 0.1-10 micron in size.
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Prokaryotic cell (bacteria)
(made up of polysaccharides)

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Eukaryotic cells

 These contain a nucleus and

membrane bound organelles.
 Includes Protista, Plantae,
Animalia and Fungi.
 Most of the Eukaryotic cells
have cytoplasm, cell membrane
(or plasma membrane) and a
nucleus.
 ~10-100 micron in size.
 Cell wall made up of cellulose
(in plants) or chitin (made of
aminopolysaccharide, in fungi).

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Prokaryotic vs. Eukaryotic cells

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 Structural organization of cells
1) Cell membrane
• Thin, elastic, living membrane, made up of phospholipid bilayer, glycolipids, proteins
(peripheral and integral as marker, recognition, receptor, transport) , carbohydrate and
cholesterol (provide firmness and prevents freezing).

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Cell membrane structure (fluid mosaic model)
• It is a semi-
permeable boundary
between cell and
outer environment,
maintains shape and
size of cell, ~10 nm
thick, transport
materials in/out of
the cell via diffusion
and osmosis.

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 2) The nucleus
• Control center of the cell, largest organelle.

• Double membrane (inner and outer) bound spherical

structure that contains DNA as heredity material.

• Usually one per cell, bone cells have > 1 nucleus.

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 Nucleus (contd.)

• Inside the nucleus, there is transparent granular matrix called

nucleoplasm, chromatin composed of DNA and histone proteins.

• Ribosomes and RNA are produced inside Nucleolus.

• Nuclear envelope contains nuclear pores for cellular traffic.

• When a cell divides, the chromatin becomes

more tightly coiled to form 23 pairs of
chromosomes (in human).

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 3) Cytoplasm
• Gel-like (gelatin) substance filled inside the cell and
enclosed by cell membrane.
• Made up of water, proteins, lipids, nucleic acid,
inorganic solvents, minerals, etc.
• Function is to suspend and support organelles and
cellular molecules, helps to transport hormones etc.
throughout the cell, dissolves cellular waste, some
metabolic reactions such as cellular respiration happen
inside the cytoplasm.
• Cytoplasm without cell organelles is called Cytosol.
• Cytoplasm together with organelles and nucleus:
Protoplasm.
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Functions of different organelles

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Eukaryotic animal cells

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Eukaryotic plant cells
• Bigger than animal and
bacterial cells.

• Cell wall (of cellulose) and

chloroplast is present.

• Regular and rigid in shape.

• Do not have flagella.

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Bacterial vs. Animal vs. Plant cell

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Cell wall vs. cell membrane

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 Mitochondria
 It is often called as “Powerhouse or energy factory of the cell”.

 Second largest organelle, ~0.5-1.0 micron in

size.

 It is an oval-shaped organelle having two

membranes: outer (smooth), and inner
(folded), with many inward finger-like
protrusions or projections called cristae that
increase the surface area.

 Membranes (~5-10 nm thick) are composed

of phospholipid bilayer and proteins.

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Mitochondria(contd.)
 It continuously produces adenosine
triphosphate (ATP) through aerobic
ATP molecule cellular respiration. ATP is cell’s main
energy carrying molecule to perform
all vital biological activities.

 The compartment enclosed by the

inner membrane is called the
mitochondrial matrix which contains
mitochondrial DNA and ribosomes
and many enzymes.

 Mammalian RBCs lack

mitochondria.
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 Ribosomes

(peptidyl)
(exit)

(aminoacyl)

 Non-membranous small spherical organelles (~20-30 nm size) found in both

prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, made up of two subunits.
 Often called as “protein factories” as their primary job is to produce proteins.
 They are produced in nucleolus, each cell contains thousands of ribosomes. 34
 Ribosomes (contd.)
 Two types: 1) freely floating in
cytoplasm and 2) attached with rough
Endoplasmic reticulum.
 These are the sites of protein synthesis
as they consist of RNA and protein.

 A ribosome has one mRNA binding

site and three tRNA binding sites (A, P,
E).

 mRNA binds to small subunit and

tRNAs bind to large subunit.
S ⟶ sedimentation (Svedberg unit) coefficient

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Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER)

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 Endoplasmic Reticulum (contd.)

 A system of membranous tubules and sacs.

 Smooth ER (sER): without ribosomes attached

 Rough ER (rER): with ribosomes attached

 sER is mainly involved in synthesis of lipids and breakdown of toxic

substances.

 rER helps in protein synthesis and protein folding.

 Acts as intercellular highway for the movement of molecules from one part of
cell to other, ER tubules provide additional surface area for metabolic activities.

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 Golgi complex (or Golgi apparatus)
 Called as “post office of the cell”.
 Discovered by Camello Golgi in 1897.
 These are stacks of 5-8 flattened membrane
sacs, found in both animals and plants,
located near ER and nucleus.
 Made up of series of compartments known
as Cisternae.
 They store, process, package, and distribute
proteins received from ER and substances
produced by cell in form of membrane
bound vesicles, instruct the substances
where to go.
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Golgi complex (contd.)
 cis- face is located near ER
while trans- face is located near
cell membrane.
 The vesicles that leave rER are
transported to the cis- face of
the Golgi apparatus, where they
fuse with the Golgi membrane,
then the molecules are modified
and transported to their next
destinations from trans- face.
 Found in large numbers in
pancreas cells.

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Lysosomes

 Referred as “suicidal bags of cell”.

 It is a single membrane bound

spherical organelle found both in
animal and plant cells.

 It contains hydrolytic (digestive)

enzymes that can break down many
biomolecules.

 Produced from Golgi complex.

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Lysosomes (contd.)

 It acts as the waste disposal

system of the cell by digesting
obsolete or un-used materials in
the cytoplasm.

 It destroys non-functional or
dead cells called as autolysis.

 Kills bacteria and other foreign

organisms upon entering into
the cell.

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 Plastids
 Double membrane organelle found
mainly in plant cells and algae.
Three types:
 Chloroplasts: used in photosynthesis, two
distinct region: stroma (colorless liquid)
and granum (stacks of thylakoids which
contains green pigment chlorophyll that
absorbs light energy.
 Chromoplasts: contain different colorful
pigments (carrot, tomato, mango, chilli,
etc.).
 Leucoplasts (Amyloplasts): colorless,
store starch, protein and lipids (grains,
seeds, food, etc.). 42
Plastids (contd.)

Potato leucoplasts

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 Vacuoles
 Single membrane bound sack-like
vesicles.
 Lesser and smaller in size in animal cells.
 Plant cells have large vacuoles.
 The membrane of vacuole is called
tonoplast.
 Vacuole is filled with watery fluid called
cell sap which has dissolved salts, nutrients,
sugars, enzymes etc.
 Store various substances including waste
products, maintain osmotic pressure of cell,
store food particles in amoeba cells, provide
rigidity to plant cells.
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Peroxisomes

 Single membrane bound small vesicle

(~100-500 nm in size) containing
detoxification enzymes, found mainly in
liver and kidney cells.
 Dense matrix with urate oxidase
crystalline core.
 A lipid bilayer membrane which
regulates what enters and exits the
peroxisome.
 Detoxifies hydrogen peroxide
(detrimental to cell), used in oxidative
breakdown of fatty acids to create
metabolic energy.
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 Centrosome
 Small hollow cylindrical organelle
containing two spindle shaped Centrioles
oriented perpendicular to each other, present
near nucleus, found mainly in animal cells.

 Composed of array of nine triplets of

microtubules.

 Helps in cell division (Mitosis) for the equal

distribution of chromosomes in daughter
cells.

 Assists in formation of cilia and flagella.

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