GENERAL QUESTIONS

„ Animals,
Animals, plants,
plants, fungi,
fungi, and protists are eukaryotes.
eukaryotes. In these organisms the
genetical material is organized into a nucleus.

Cells „ Prokaryotes (bacteria and Archaea)

nucleus.
rchaea) don’
don’t have their genetic material into a

B.K.Kolita Kamal Jinadasa,

Jinadasa,
Post Harvest Technology Division,
NARA,
Colombo-
Colombo-15,
Sri Lanka.

Eukaryote cell Prokaryote cell

Structures of a cell (in general)

„ Cells contained some organelles:
Cell membrane Mitochondria
1. Plasmatic membrane : The cell membrane surrounds the cytoplasm of a
cell and physically separates the intracellular components from the
extracellular environment. This barrier is able to regulate what enters. It
contains a variety of biological molecules,
molecules, primarily proteins and lipids,
lipids,
which are involved in a vast array of cellular processes.

2. Mitochondria:
Mitochondria: it’
it’s a membrane-
membrane-enclosed organelle.
organelle. A mitochondrion
contains inner and outer membranes composed of phospholipid bilayers
and proteins.
proteins. A dominant role for the mitochondria is the production of
ATP.
ATP. It contains DNA.

3. Vacuoles are membrane-

membrane-bound compartments within some eukaryotic
cells that can serve a variety of secretory,
secretory, excretory, and storage function.

4. Golgi apparatus.
apparatus. The primary function of the Golgi apparatus is to
process and package macromolecules synthesised by the cell, primarily
proteins and lipids.
lipids.

Organelles Ribosome and endoplasmatic

„ The endoplasmic reticulum or ER is an interconnected network of tubules, tubules, vesicles
rethiculum.
rethiculum.
and cisternae that is responsible for several specialized functions: Protein translation,
translation,
folding, and transport of proteins to be used in the cell membrane.
membrane.
Ribosome
„ A ribosome is a small, dense collection of rRNA and proteins that assembles proteins.
proteins.
Ribosomes consist of two subunits (Figure 1) that fit together (Figure 2) and work as
one to translate the mRNA into a polypeptide chain during protein synthesis.

„ the nucleus is a membrane-

membrane-enclosed organelle found in most eukaryotic cells.
cells. It
contains most of the cell's genetic material.
material. Here stay the nucleic acids.
acids.

„ Prokaryotes don’
don’t have nucleus and contain a single loop of DNA stored in an area
area
named the nucleoid.
nucleoid.

„ A plasmid is a DNA molecule separate from the chromosomal DNA and capable of
autonomous replication. It is typically circular and double-
double-stranded. It usually occurs in
bacteria.
bacteria. Endoplasmatic reticulum

1
2