Fiona Jones

AP Biology
Course Review - Cells

The Cell

Chapter 4: A Tour of the Cell

4.2: Eukaryotic cells have internal membranes that compartmentalize their functions.

- Prokaryotic - plasma membrane and ribosomes (1 um ~ 10 um)

- Domains: Archaea, Bacteria
- No true nucleus → chromosome found in nucleoid
- Eukaryotic - plasma membrane, ribosomes, organelles in cytosol, nucleus (10 um ~ 100
um)
- Domain: Eukarya
- Plasma membrane → boundary for the cell, selectively permeable, permits passage of
materials in and out of the cell
- Want a high surface area to volume ratio in a cell so more nutrients can pass in
and out through the membrane
- Cell size is limited, this is why they divide
4.3: The Eukaryotic cell’s genetic instructions are hosted in the nucleus and carried out by the
ribosomes.

- Nucleus
- Contains DNA (“Control Center”)
- Where DNA is used as a template to make mRNA (code to make a protein)
- Large and dense compared to the rest of the cell
- Double membrane -- Nuclear envelope (continuous with rough ER)
- Nuclear pores control what goes in and out of the nucleus
- Chromatin → complex of DNA and protein housed in the nucleus (formed
into chromosomes at beginning of division)
- Nucleolus
- rRNA complexes with proteins to form ribosomal subunits
- Ribosomes
- Protein factories (rRNA and protein) - sights of protein synthesis
- Free - floating in cytosol, produce proteins used in the cell
- Bound - attached to ER, make proteins used to export out

4.4: The Endomembrane regulates protein traffic and performs metabolic functions in the
cell.

- Endoplasmic reticulum (ER)

- Makes up more than half the total membrane in many cells
- Network of membranes and saxs whos internal area is called the cisternal space
- Smooth
- Synthesis of lipids, metabolism of carbs, detox of drugs and
poisons
- Rough
- Holds ribosomes and synthesizes proteins
- Golgi Apparatus
- Proteins from transport vesicles are modified, stored, and shipped
- Consists of flattened sacs of membranes (cisternae)
- Proteins from the ER are modified here
- Lysosomes
- Membrane bound sacs of hydrolytic enzymes
- Digests large molecules (proteins, polysaccharides, fats, nucleic acids)
- Digestive enzymes breakdown macromolecules
- Compartmentalization → *if breaks open, enzymes do not work in the
neutral pH of the cell*
- Vacuoles
 - Membrane bound vesicles
- Food
- Formed by phagocytosis of protists
- Contractile
- Maintain water balance in protists
- Central vacuole
- *plant cells*
- May concentrate and contain compounds not found in the cytosol

4.5 Mitochondria and chloroplasts change energy from one form to another.

- Mitochondria
- Sites of cellular respiration (uses oxygen to generate ATP by extracting energy
from sugars, fats, and other fuels)
- Outer and inner membrane
- Inner is highly folded to form cristae, increases surface area
- Mitochondrial matrix
- Fluid filled, many reactions occur here
- Contains mitochondrial DNA
- Chloroplasts
- Plants and algae only
- Sites of photosynthesis
- Double membrane, own ribosomes, and circular DNA
- Reproduce independently within the cell
- Peroxisome
- Single membrane bound
- Involved in all transfer of H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide)
- Break down fatty acids to be sent to mitochondria for fuel and detoxify alcohol by
transferring hydrogen from poison to oxygen

4.6 The cytoskeleton is a network of fibers that organizes structures and activities in the cell.

- Cytoskeleton
- Network of protein fibers that runs throughout the cytoplasm
- Responsible for support, motility, biochemical activities
- Microtubules
- Made of protein tubulin, largest cytoskeleton fibers
- Separate chromosomes during mitosis and meiosis
- Components of cilia and flagella
- Microfilaments
 - Made of the protein actin
- Smaller than microtubules and are smaller scale support
- With Myosin, can be involved with movement
- Intermediate filaments
- Larger than microfilaments, smaller than tubules
- More permanent fixtures for the cell
- Maintain shape and fix position of organelles
- Centrosomes
- Where microtubules grow
- Contain centrioles in animal cells
- Centrioles
- Replicate before cell division
- Flagella and Cilia
- Share a common ultrastructure
- “9 +2” patterned microtubules

4.7: Extracellular components and connections between cells help coordinate cellular
activities.

- Cell wall
- PLant - protects the plant and maintains shape
- Made of the carb cellulose
- Plasmodesmata
- Channels that perforate adjacent cell walls and allow the passage of some
molecules from cell to cell
- Extracellular matrix
- Composed of glycoproteins secreted by the cell (collagen)
- Strengthens tissues and serves as a conduit for transmitting external stimuli into
the cell
- Tight Junctions
- Sections of animal cell where two neighboring cells are fused
- Desmosomes
- Fasten adjacent animal cells together
- Gap Junctions
- Provide channels between adjacent animal cells through which ions, sugars,
communication molecules, and small molecules can pass

Chapter 5: Membrane Structure and Function

5.1 Cellular membranes are fluid mosaics of lipids and proteins.

 - Plasma membrane
- Selectively permeable
- Made of phospholipids and proteins held together by weak interactions (fluid)
- Hydrophilic phosphate portions are oriented towards the inside and the outside
- The hydrophobic fatty acids face each other in the bilayer in the interior
- Phospholipids - hydrophobic barrier
- Hydrophilic cannot enter easily, hydrophobic can
- Proteins
- Embedded in the membrane
- Transport protein channels -- move material across the membrane
- Carbs
- Crucial to cell-cell recognition (needed for immune function)

5.2: Membrane structure results in selective permeability

- Nonpolar molecules are hydrophobic and can dissolve in the hydrophobic interior of the
phospholipid bilayer and cross the membrane easily
- Hydrophilic substances can avoid the lipid bilayer by passing through transport proteins
- Water moves through aquaporins

5.3: Passive transport is diffusion of a substance across a membrane with no energy

investment.

- Passive transport
- Moves molecules across membrane without expenditure of energy by cell;
includes diffusion and facilitated transport
- Tonicity
- strength of a solution in relationship to osmosis.
- Isotonic solutions occur where the relative solute concentrations of two
solutions are equal; a 0.9% salt solution is used in injections because it is
isotonic to red blood cells (RBCs)
- A hypotonic solution has a solute concentration that is less than another
solution; when a cell is placed in a hypotonic solution, water enters the
cells and they may undergo lysis (burst).
- A hypertonic solution has a higher percentage of solute than a cell;
as a result, water may leave the cells.
- A hypertonic solution has a higher percentage of solute than a cell; as a
result, water may leave the cells.
5.3: Active transport uses energy to move solutes against their protein radians.

- Active transport
- Requires a carrier protein and uses energy (ATP) to move molecules across a
plasma membrane; includes active transport, exocytosis, endocytosis, and
pinocytosis.
- Active transport requires both carrier proteins and ATP; therefore cells must have high
number of mitochondria near membranes.
- Proteins involved in active transport are often called “pumps”; the sodium-potassium
pump is an important carrier system in nerve and muscle cells.
- Salt (NaCl) crosses a plasma membrane because sodium ions are pumped across
and the chloride ion is attracted to the sodium ion and simply diffuses across
channels.

Chapter 9: The Cell Cycle

9.1 Most cell division results in genetically identical daughter cells.

- Cell cycle
- Life of a cell from the time it is first formed from a dividing parent cell until its
own division into two cells
- Genome (cell’s genetic information) must be copies
- Somatic cells - body cells, 46 chromosomes
- Gametes - sperm and eggs (reproductive), 23 chromosomes
- Mitosis - division of a cell’s nucleus, followed by cytokinesis

9.2: The mitotic phase alternates with interphase in the cell cycle.

- Interphase (90%)
- includes cell growth and copying of chromosomes in preparation for cell division
- G1 phase (“first gap”) - cell grows, forms organelles, carries out its
function
- S phase (“synthesis”) - cell prepares for division by synthesis of materials
(DNA replication)
- G2 phase (“second gap”) - cell grows producing proteins needed for the
cell division
- Cell either goes to -
- M phase or -
 - G0 phase - cell stops dividing, stays the same
- Checkpoints - makes sure the cell has done what it needs to do to make a new cell
- Don’t want the cell reproducing when not ready
- Mitosis
- Mitosis is the conventionally divided into five different phases
- Prophase
- Prepare nucleus and chromosomes for division
- Centrioles move to opposite poles
- Nuclear membrane disappears
- Chromosomes condensing
- Prometaphase
- Spindle fiber from each centriole to kinetochore (centrioles on
centromere)
- Centrioles on opposite sides
- Metaphase
- Sister chromosomes split
- Chromosomes lined up on the equator
- Anaphase
- Chromosomes move to opposite poles
- Telophase
- Nucleus reforms, cytokinesis
- Reverse of prophase
- Chromosomes decondense
- Cytokinesis - division of cell cytoplasm
- Cleavage - animals
- Cell plate - plants
- Meiosis - special cell division for sex cells
- Forms non identical daughter cells
- Only one set of chromosomes
- Half as many as the parent cell

9.3 The eukaryotic cell cycle is regulated by a molecular control system.

- Cell cycle control

- Directs the sequential events of the cell cycle
- Checkpoints
- Cycle stops until go-ahead signal received
- G1 checkpoint
- Go - proceeds to S1,G2
- No go - enters G0 (no more division)
 - G2 checkpoint
- M checkpoint
- Kinetochore attachments - separase released
External signals
- Growth signals
- Platelet derived growth factor
- Stimulates fibroblast division
- Density-dependent inhibition
- Crowded cells stop dividing
- Anchorage dependence
- On substrate to divide

- Cancer cells ignore signals

- May not need growth factors to grow and divide
- Make their own growth factor?
- Convey a growth factor signal without the presence of the growth factor
- Abnormal cell cycle control system
- Transformation
- Normal cell becomes a cancerous cell
- Tumors
- Masses of abnormal cells
- Benign - abnormal cells remain at the original site
- Malignant - invade surrounding tissues
- Metastasis - abnormal cells migrate to other parts of the body forming
additional tumors