Cells
A cell is the basic unit of life as we know it. It is the smallest unit capable of
independent reproduction.
Robert Hooke suggested the name 'cell' in 1665, from the Latin cella meaning storeroom
or chamber, after using a very early microscope to look at a piece of cork.
It is also said that he thought that the rectangular chambers looked like the cells in
some monasteries.
What is a cell.
The simplest answer is that a cell is a container, like a box or a bottle or a jar.
It has an inside and an outside, and a flexible 'bag' in between that sustains the
structure and integrity of the cells content. This is called a cell membrane.
The cell theory, put forth in the middle of the 19th century, states that:
# Cells are the fundamental units of life, because a cell is the simplest unit
capable of independent existence.
# All living things are made of cells.
This theory still holds true, with the minor exception that viruses, that lack a cell
wall are only alive while infecting a cell and they paritise a cell’s machinery for
reproduction. They are incapable of independent existence.
Most people believe that viruses and also prions are inert, and non living, because
they don't metabolize or reproduce when they're outside their host organisms.
Physically cells always have a boundary membrane - the cell membrane, a little like a
phospholipid ‘plastic’ bag enclosing contents within it.
Inside the space limited by the membrane there is a controlled and ordered environment.
All living things are made up of one or more cells. Organisms that exist as single cells
are called unicellular and organisms that are made up of groups of cells working together
are called multicellular.
There are two groups of unicellular organisms (Archaea and Bacteria), and three groups of
multicellular organisms (Animals, Fungi and Plants), and one group which contains a
mixture of both unicellular and multicellular organisms (the Protista).
All living things are divided into two major groups depending on how their cells are set
up, these two groups are the Prokaryotes, and the Eukaryotes.
Prokaryotes do not have a nucleus, mitochondria or any other membrane bound
organelles. In other words neither their DNA nor any other of their metabolic functions
are collected together in a discrete membrane enclosed area.
Instead everything is openly accessible within the cell, though some bacteria have
internal membranes as sites of metabolic activity these membranes do not enclose a separate
area of the cytoplasm.
Eukaryotes have areas inside the cell separated off from the rest of the cell by
membranes, like the cell membrane.
These areas include the nucleus, numerous mitochondria and other organelles such as the
golgi body, and or chloroplasts within each of their cells.
These areas are made distinct from the main mass of the cells cytoplasm by their own
membrane in order to allow them to be more specialised.
The nucleus contains all the cell's DNA, the mitochondria are where energy is generated,
chloroplasts are where plants trap the suns energy in photosynthesis.
It has been proposed that Chloroplasts and Mitochondria were derived from primitive
prokaryotes that were captured by other cells in a symbiotic relationship [add link].
In a sense living things are bags within bags within bags. Organelles are bags within
the bag of the cell. Cells within cells if the chloroplasts and mitochondria once had an
independent existence.
Cells are bags within multicellular structures. Blood and other body fluids that bathe
the cells of amimals has a very similar composition to the seas from which life originated.
All the Prokaryotes (Bacteria and Archaea) are unicellular, only Eukaryotes:- the Protista,
some Fungi and some Plants are multicellular.
Membranes
All cells have a cell membrane. It is the cell membrane that maintains the integrity of
the interior.
It has ‘pores’ or openings throiugh which particular molecules and ions are selectively
allowed to pass.
Recent research has shown have that a seemingly ordinary protein called YidC found within
the membranes of bacteria serves as a gatekeeper of sorts, allowing into the membrane
other proteins essential for the bacteria to live.
When YidC isn't present, the bacteria die. This finding surprised scientists who long
believed that certain "independent" proteins were able to pass into the membrane on their own.
The new discovery, reported in journal Nature, may suggest a completely new pathway for the
translocation of proteins within basic biological units.
Even more startling was the discovery that several other proteins that are remarkably
similar to YidC may play similar roles inside mitochondria and in chloroplasts as well.
The discovery suggests that bacteria, chloroplasts and mitochondria may all have evolved
from a common ancestor.
The membranes of the cell carry out a diverse multiplicity of functions that are essential
for life.
Membranes compartmentalize cells and form barriers between different environments.
They also move molecules from one part of the cell to another by recognizing elements of
molecular structure that indicate where in the cell the molecule belongs.
In addition, membranes play a key role in energy transformations, taking light or
chemical energy and converting it into other forms that can be used by the cell.
The lipid molecules that make up most of membranes have an affinity for both oil and water;
that is, they have both hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups.
They naturally tend to line up in a bilayer with their hydrophilic groups on the outside and
their hydrophobic groups on the inside.
Embedded in this barrier are complex proteins that serve as molecular ports, allowing certain
kinds of molecules to cross the barrier, but not others.
The interconversion of different forms of energy is essential for life and this
interconversion usually involves membranes.
For example, energy from the sun is transformed by plants into chemical energy that is
stored as carbohydrates, which in turn are consumed by animals and transformed into the
energy needed for development, motion and thought.
The ability of membranes to change energy from one form to another depends on their
unique structure.
Proteins designed to transport molecules are aligned in the membrane so that they can
generate concentration gradients; if the molecules are ions, then a transmembrane
electrical gradient is also generated.
The transmembrane electrical potential difference, referred to as a membrane potential,
can be used to perform various tasks.
Energy released by discharging an ionic or chemical gradient can be used to synthesize new
compounds or to drive cellular processes.
At the same time, the gradient is continually regenerated through respiration or the input
of light or chemical energy, just as a battery can becontinually recharged.
Often the energy released when a gradient is broken dow n is stored as chemical energy by
the high energy molecule, ATP, while the generation of an ionic gradient is driven by the
breakdown of ATP.