- 5 votes
Golgi Apparatus (or Golgi Body):
The Golgi apparatus is a cellular organelle found in eukaryotic cells. It's responsible for modifying, sorting, and packaging macromolecules like proteins and lipids for transport to their final destination within the cell or for secretion outside the cell. Here's a breakdown of its structure:
Cisternae: The Golgi apparatus is composed of a series of flattened, membrane-bound sacs called cisternae. These cisternae are stacked on top of each other.
Cis and Trans Faces: The Golgi apparatus has two distinct faces - the cis face and the trans face.
Cis Face: This is the receiving side of the Golgi apparatus, where materials enter. It's usually located near the endoplasmic reticulum (ER).
Trans Face: This is the shipping side, where modified products leave the Golgi apparatus to their final destination, which could be other parts of the cell or the cell membrane for secretion.
Golgi Vesicles: These are small membrane-bound sacs that transport materials between the cisternae and to other organelles.
Enzymes: The Golgi apparatus contains enzymes that modify the molecules passing through it. For example, it adds carbohydrates to proteins to form glycoproteins.
Secretory Vesicles: These are vesicles that contain modified molecules and transport them to the cell membrane for secretion.
Ribosomes:
Ribosomes are cellular structures responsible for protein synthesis. They can be found floating freely in the cytoplasm or attached to the endoplasmic reticulum. Here are the four main functions of ribosomes:
Protein Synthesis: Ribosomes are the site of protein synthesis in the cell. They read the genetic instructions in the form of mRNA (messenger RNA) and use them to assemble amino acids into a polypeptide chain, which eventually folds into a functional protein.
Translation: The process of converting genetic information from mRNA into a specific sequence of amino acids (forming a protein