Cells SUMMARY SHEET

Cells are the basic units of all life

The Domains of life are divided into groupings based on the presence
or absence of a nucleus.
Cells which have their nucleus housed in a nucleus are called
Eukaryotes
All plants, animals, fungus have nucleated cells and are
Eukaryotes
Cells which have DNA not surrounded by a nucleus are called
Prokaryotes
Bacteria and other single celled organisms (but not all single
celled organisms) have DNA that floats freely within the cell and
are prokaryotes
The presence of other organelles that have membranes around them
also distinguishes Eukaryotes from Prokaryotes. Some of these
organelles are:

Endoplasmic Reticulum Serve as a pathway for amino acids to

travel out of the nucleus
Ribosomes Attached to the Endoplasmic reticulum, these twopart organelles attach to the strands of DNA, and proteins
replicating them
Golgi Bodies Take the completed proteins and move them out
of the cell
Mitochondria -

In addition, plants and other photosynthesizing organisms contain:

Cell walls
Chloroplasts
Single Cell organisms include a class of organism called Protists. This
is a diverse group of single cell organisms some are plant like and
photosynthesize. Some are animal-like and do not photosynthesize
Additional organelles that perform basic functions of life are:
Vacuoles
Lysosomes

The interior of cells is held erect by a system of tubules that form

a cytoskeleton. Cyto is the Latin word for Cell
All cells have a Cell (Plasma) membrane surrounding them.
These membranes control what enters and exits the cell

The Plasma Membrane is constructed of two layers of molecules

the outer heads are phosphorous, and the inner tails are lipids
(fats). The outer heads attract water, the inner tails repel water. This is
called a phospho-lipid bilayer. This membrane structure keeps the
cell floating in the liquid interior of the body.
Small molelcules, such as oxygen, carbon dioxide and other gases,
can pass through the membrane by diffusion, because the membrane
is not a solid wall of tightly packed molecules.
Proteins embedded in the plasma membrane serve as transport
channels, allowing large and charged molecules to pass through the
membrane. The proteins and the arrangement of the phospho-lipid
bilayer together allow the movement of important molecules into and
out of the cell
Diffusion is the movement of molecules from where they are highly
concentrated to where they are less concentrated.
Osmosis is the movement of water molecules from where they are
highly concentrated to where they are less concentrated.
Neither diffusion nor osmosis requires the use of energy by the cell.
The reproduction of body cells is called mitosis. This is considered
asexual reproduction, since there is no exchange of DNA, and the
duplicated cell is an exact copy of the original cell.