CELL

BIOCHEMISTRY

BIOCHEMISTRY| 2020
 Learning Objectives
At the end of the learning session, the students must be able to:
• Define correctly the cell and its organelles.
• Compare accordingly the eukaryotic cell and prokaryotic cell.
• Know in details the different organelles and discuss their structures and
functions.
• Distinguish properly the various membrane transport mechanism and
their function.
• Know correctly the cell life cycle.

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 CELL
• Biochemistry explores molecular
mechanisms of normal cellular processes
as well as diseases.
• All higher living organisms including
humans are made up of cells.
• Two major classes:
• Prokaryotes
• Eukaryotes
Photo from Textbook of Biochemistry for Medical Students

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 HISTORICAL NOTES
• Robert Hooke was the first person to use the term “cell”. He referred to the small
empty chambers in the structure of cork as cells.
• Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann concluded that all plant and animal
tissues were composed of cells.
• Rudolf Virchow proposed the theory of biogenesis where cells only arise from pre-
existing cells.

Cell Theory
• A cell is the basic structural and functional unit of living organisms.
• The activity of an organism depends on the collective activities of its cells.
• According to the principle of complementarity, the activities of cells are dictated by
their structure (anatomy), which determines function (physiology).
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EUKARYOTIC CELL vs. PROKARYOTIC CELL
EUKARYOTES PROKARYOTES
DNA is found in the nucleus of the DNA is not enclosed within the
cell. membrane.
Contain membrane-bound
organelles which include
Lack membrane-enclosed organelles
mitochondria, endoplasmic
reticulum, and Golgi complex
Cell division involves mitosis. Usually divide by binary fission.

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 MOLECULAR COMPOSITION OF CELL
• Water accounts for about 70-75% of the weight of the cell.
• Organic compounds accounts for 25-30% of the cell weight.
• They are nucleic acids, proteins, polysaccharides
(carbohydrates) and lipids.
• Inorganic compounds account for the rest of the cell weight.

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 EUKARYOTIC CELL

Photo from Burton’s Textbook

Eukaryotic cells have a membrane-bound nucleus and a number of other

membrane-bound subcellular (internal) organelles, each of which has a specific
function.

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 PLASMA MEMBRANE
• Structure: Phospholipid bilayer
containing cholesterol and proteins and
some carbohydrates; forms a selectively
permeable boundary of the cell.
• Functions: Acts as a physical barrier to
enclose cell contents; regulates material
movement into and out of the cell;
functions in cell communication

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 NUCLEUS
• Structure: It is enclosed within a
double membrane called nuclear
envelope; contains nucleolus
• Nucleolus: It consists of RNA and
proteins which functions in ribosomal
unit assembly.
• Nucleoplasm: It surrounds the
chromatin and the nucleoli.
• Function: It contains the DNA that Photo from Textbook of Biochemistry for Medical Students

serves as the genetic material for

directing protein synthesis.
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 CYTOPLASM
• Structure: This can be seen between the
plasma membrane and the nucleus where
the other cellular elements are
embedded.
• Organelles are membrane-bound structures
which carry out specific metabolic activities
of the cell.
• Cytosol provides support for organelles and
serves as the viscous fluid medium.
• Function: It is responsible for various
cellular processes.
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 MITOCHONDRIA
• Structure: Double-membrane-bound
organelles containing a circular strand of
DNA
• Outer membrane is highly permeable to
small molecules, due to the presence of a
pore-forming protein called porin.
• Intermembrane contains many proteins that
participate in oxidative phosphorylation.
• Inner membrane has multiple folds
projecting inwards, called cristae.
• Function: It is responsible for the Photo from Textbook of Biochemistry for Medical Students
production of energy in the form of ATP.
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 LYSOSOMES
• Structure: Spherical shaped
membrane bound organelles
formed from the golgi apparatus;
contain digestive enzymes
• The fluid inside lysosomes is
much more acidic, at about pH 4.8,
than the normal pH of about 7.0–
7.3.
• Function: Digest microbes or
materials by the cell
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 ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM
• It is further subdivided into:
• Rough endoplasmic reticulum
• Structure: Extensive interconnected membrane
network that varies in shape; ribosomes attached
on the cytoplasmic surfaces
• Ribosomes are involved in the protein
synthesis.
• Functions: Modifies, transports, and stores
proteins produces by attached ribosomes
• Smooth endoplasmic reticulum
• Structure: Extensive interconnected membrane
network lacking ribosomes

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 GOLGI APPARATUS
• Structure: Series of several
elongated, flattened saclike
membranous structures.
• Functions: Modifies, packages, and
sorts materials, that arrive from the
endoplasmic reticulum in transport
vesicles
• Vesicles transport cellular material.
Mature vesicles are called secretory
vesicles.

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 PEROXISOMES
• Structure: smaller, spherical
membrane bound organelles
formed from the endoplasmic
reticulum.
• Functions: Detoxify specific
harmful substances either
produced by the cell or taken
into the cell

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 CYTOSKELETON
• Cytoskeleton
• Structure: Organized network of
protein filaments
• Function: Maintains integral
structural support and organization
of cells
• Microfilaments maintain cell shape.
• Intermediate filaments give
mechanical support to structures like
nucleus and plasma membrane.
• Microtubules provides structural
support.
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 IMPORTANT NOTES IN PROKARYOTIC CELL
• Prokaryotes (Eubacteria and Archaebacteria) are
the most abundant organisms on earth.
• A prokaryotic cell does not contain a membrane-
bound nucleus.
• Each prokaryotic cell is surrounded by a plasma
membrane.
• The cell has no subcellular organelles, only
infoldings of the plasma membrane called
mesosomes.
• The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is condensed
within the cytosol to form the nucleoid.
• Some prokaryotes have tail-like flagella.
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 CELL MEMBRANE TRANSPORT
• Passive Transport Process
• Diffusion is the movement of a substance from an area of its
higher concentration to an area of its lower concentration.
• Simple diffusion is the type of diffusion of dissolved solutes
through the plasma membrane
• Facilitated Diffusion is the type of diffusion that requires a
protein carrier.
• Osmosis is the diffusion of water point across a selectively
permeable membrane.
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 CELL MEMBRANE TRANSPORT
• Active Transport Process
• This type of cell membrane transport uses energy (ATP) provided by the cell.
• For example, cell has low intracellular sodium; but concentration of
potassium inside the cell is very high. This is maintained by the sodium–
potassium activated ATPase, generally called as sodium pump.
• Exocytosis refers to bulk movement of substance out of the cell by fusion of
secretory vesicles with the plasma membrane.
• Endocytosis refers to bulk movement of substance into the cells by vesicles
forming at the plasma membrane.

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ACTIVE TRANSPORT

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ENDOCYTOSIS and EXOCYTOSIS

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 CEL LIFE CYCLE
• Interphase
• It is the longer phase of the cell cycle where the cell is active and preparing for cell division.
• The DNA molecule is duplicated exactly in a process called DNA replication which occurs toward the
end of the interphase.
• Cell Division
• Cells arise from the division of other cells.
• Mitosis consists of four stages-prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase. The result is two
daughter nuclei, each identical to the mother nucleus.
• Prophase- each chromosome consists of two chromatids joined at the centromere.
• Metaphase- chromosomes align at the center of the cell
• Anaphase- chromatids separate at the centromere and migrate to opposite poles.
• Telophase- two new nuclei assume their normal structure, and cell division is completed, producing two new
daughter cells.

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MITOSIS

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 REFERENCES
• Mescher, A.L. Junqueria’s Basic Histology, 13th edition. McGraw-Hill
Education, 2013, (pp. 25-72).

• Rao, M.N. Medical Biochemistry, 2nd edition, New Age International

Publishers, 2006, (pp. 1-9).

• Engelkirk, P.G. and Engelkirk, J.D., 9th edition Microbiology for Health
Sciences.. Lippincott Williams& Wilkins, 2011, (pp. 25)

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