Chapter 1: The Cell
Keywords
Please familiarize yourself with these keywords before you start reading the chapter.
- Cell membrane
- An asymmetric phospholipid bilayer with embedded proteins and carbohydrates.
- Endoplasmic Reticulum
- The organelle that is responsible for the synthesis of proteins (rough ER) or the synthesis of steroid hormones and detoxification of certain agents (smooth ER)
- Golgi Apparatus
- The organelle that is responsible for protein packaging and processing.
- Intermediate Filaments
- A broad class of cytoskeletal elements that provide structure and function to a cell.
- Lysosomes
- An organelle that is responsible for degrading material.
- Meiosis
- A specialized process of cell division that results in the formation of cells with half the chromosome number of the original cell.
- Microfilaments
- Thin cytoskeletal elements that are predominantly involved in the movement of cellular elements.
- Microtubules
- The component of the cytoskeleton that is composed of an α and β heterodimer of tubulin.
- Mitochondria
- The primary organelle that produces energy (ATP) for the cell.
- Mitosis
- A component of the cell cycle and cell division that concludes with two separate cells with identical numbers of chromosomes.
- Nucleus
- The two membrane structure that contains and confines the genetic material of a eukaryotic cell.
- Perioxisomes
- An organelle that breaks down H2O2 and excess fatty acids and is involved in cholesterol biosynthesis
