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Essay about Describe the structural compartmentation of mammalian cells

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DESCRIBE THE STRUCTURAL COMPARTMENTATION OF MAMMALIAN CELLS
AND THE DIFFERING FUNCTIONS OF THESE COMPARTMENTS
All mammalian cells are eukaryotic, and whilst the eukaryotic type of cell is not exclusive to mammals, mammalian cells differ from other eukaryotic cells because of the organelles that are or are not present. For instance some plant cells have chloroplasts which are not present in mammalian cells, but both plant cells and mammalian cells are eukaryotic in nature. The term eukaryotic refers to the cell having specific membrane bound organelles, which are not present in prokaryotic cells. The defining feature of a eukaryotic cell is usually its membrane bound nucleus (the exception being the red blood cell) [1].
Because of …show more content…

The small ribosomal subunit, amongst other things, is initiates the engagement of the mRNA and is responsible decoding the genetic information during translation [4].

The endoplasmic reticulum is specialised for protein processing and lipid biosynthesis. One of its primary functions is to regulate the ionic concentration in the cytoplasm via the movement of Ca2+, via ionic pumps and channels. It also contains enzymes responsible for the metabolising of drugs. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) can come in two forms. As depicted in Fig. 2 Rough ER has ribosomes present as part of the membrane of the organelle, and together with these ribosomes takes polypeptides and amino acids from the cytosol and synthesises proteins destined for attachment to cell membranes. It is in the lumen of the rough ER that the proteins are folded into the specific three dimensional shapes that are so important for biochemical recognition and linking sites [6]. It is called rough because of the presence of ribosomes makes the surface of the membrane look rough, unlike smooth ER, which lacks the ribosomes so the membrane looks smooth. Rough ER is composed of a large but convoluted flattened sac. The main function of the smooth ER is the production of lipids and the metabolism of compounds (such as the breakdown of glycogen into glucose). Because of the different functions between the rough and smooth ER, different specialised cells will have different amounts of each; for example, hepatic

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