Cell BiologyPBC101
First Year PHARM D Clinical Students
Lecture03
Objective
By the end of this lecture, we will be able to
• Understand the components of nucleus
• Describe packaging of DNA.
• Describe the structure and function of ER.
• Understand the structure and function of Golgi
apparatus.
• Understand structure and function of other
endomembrane system organelles.
Nucleus
• Largest organelle and the cell’s control
center.
• Contains most of the cell’s DNA.
• DNA makes up chromosomes and is
encoded with the genetic instructions for
making proteins and ribosomes.
provide the primary route for communication
• Single nucleus: Most cells between the nucleus and cytoplasm during
• No nucleus: RBCs. interphase.
• Multiple nuclei: muscle cells.
Function: Regulate gene expression,
including controlling which proteins the cell
makes.
Nucleus
Nuclear envelope:
Double membrane that encloses the entire
organelle and isolates its contents from the
cellular cytoplasm.
Nuclear pore
Route of communication between
nucleoplasm and the cytoplasm.
provide the primary route for communication
Nucleoplasm: semisolid fluid inside the between the nucleus and cytoplasm during
interphase.
nucleus (chromatin and the nucleolus).
Nucleolus: Condensed region of chromatin
where ribosome synthesis occurs which are
exported to the cytoplasm where they are
involved in the synthesis of proteins.
Electron micrograph of
a thin section of
nucleus
Figure from Pollard, T.D., Earnshaw, W.C., Lippincott-Schwartz, J. and
Johnson, G., 2016. Cell biology E-book. Elsevier Health Sciences.
Nuclear pore complexes
Traffic between nucleus and cytoplasm
• Tiny holes that allow large molecules to pass through the nuclear
envelope with the help of special proteins.
• Large proteins and RNA molecules must be able to pass through
the nuclear envelope so proteins can be synthesized in the
cytoplasm and the genetic material can be maintained inside the
nucleus.
Chromosome and Chromatin
Chromosomes: composed of DNA (hereditary material) and proteins.
Combination of DNA and proteins is called chromatin.
In eukaryotes, chromosomes are linear structures.
In humans: 46 chromosomes, whereas in fruit flies: 8 chromosomes.
Nucleolus
How does nucleus direct the synthesis of ribosome?
Some chromosomes have genes that encode ribosomal RNA.
Nucleolus (darkly staining area within the nucleus) aggregates the rRNA
with associated proteins to assemble the ribosomal subunits that are
then transported through the nuclear pores into the cytoplasm.
Genes DNA, Chromosomes
DNA packaging in Chromatin and
Chromosome
• Eukaryotic chromosomal DNA molecules are thousands of times
longer than the diameter of the nucleus.
• Must be highly compacted throughout the cell cycle.
• Combining of DNA with structural proteins to make chromatin.
• Chromatin folding must compact the DNA but still permit access of
the transcriptional machinery to regions of the chromosome required
for gene expression.
Level of chromosome compaction
First level: short stretches of the DNA double helix wrap
around a core of eight histone proteins at regular
intervals along the entire length of the chromosome.
DNA-histone complex is called chromatin.
The beadlike, histone DNA complex is a nucleosome.
DNA molecule in this form is about 7 times shorter.
The beads are about 10 nm in diameter.
Second level:
Nucleosomes and the linker DNA between them are coiled
into a 30-nm chromatin fiber.
This coiling shortens the chromosome (50 times shorter).
Level of chromosome
compaction
Third level of packing, a variety of fibrous proteins is
used to pack the chromatin.
These fibrous proteins also ensure that each
chromosome in a non-dividing cell occupies a particular
area of the nucleus that does not overlap with that of any
other chromosome.
Eukaryotic genome
• Several double-stranded linear DNA molecules.
• Human body cells have 46 chromosomes, while human
gametes (sperm or eggs) have 23 chromosomes each.
• Somatic cells, contains two matched sets of chromosomes
(diploid 2n).
• Human gametes (eggs and sperm) are haploid (1n).
• Matched pairs of chromosomes in a diploid organism are called
homologous (same length and have specific genes in exactly
the same location, or locus).
• Genes, the functional units of chromosomes, determine specific
characteristics by coding for specific proteins. Traits are the
variations of those characteristics. For example, eye color is a
characteristic with traits that are green, brown, or blue.
Eukaryotic genome
• Each copy of a homologous pair of chromosomes originates
from a different parent; therefore, the genes themselves are
not identical(specific combination of the genes inherited from
both parents).
• For example, there are three possible gene sequences on the
human chromosome that code for blood type: A, B, and O.
Because all diploid human cells have two copies of the
chromosome that determines blood type, the blood type (the
trait) is determined by which two versions of the marker gene
are inherited.
Eukaryotic genome
The sex chromosomes, X and Y, are the single exception to the rule
of homologous chromosome uniformity: Other than a small amount of
homology that is necessary to accurately produce gametes, the genes
found on the X and Y chromosomes are different
Smooth ER: Smooth
surface.
Rough ER: Studded
with ribosomes.
Endoplasmic reticulum
Rough Smooth
•A series of connected flattened sacs •Do not have ribosomes.
having several ribosomes on its •Have tubular form.
outer surface, hence the name. •Participates in the production of
•It synthesizes and secretes proteins phospholipids, the chief lipids in
in the liver, hormones and other cell membranes and cholesterol.
substances in the glands. •Metabolism of carbohydrates.
•Rough ER is prominent in cells •Production and secretion of
where protein synthesis happens steroid hormones.
(such as hepatocytes).
Ribosomes
• Made of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and proteins.
• Function: Read mRNA and synthesize protein.
• Consists of large and small subunits both
contains rRNA and proteins.
• Synthesized in nucleolus of nucleus.
• Free floating ribosomes: synthesize proteins
used within the cell.
• Membrane bound ribosome: synthesize
proteins outside the cell.
• Essential: found in every cell.
Golgi apparatus
• Proteins to be processed come in transport vesicles
from the ER and fuse with receiving face of Golgi
apparatus membranes to empty their contents into the
lumen of Golgi.
• Processed proteins are packaged into secretory
Transporting, modifying, labeling and
vesicles that bud from the releasing face to lysosomes
packaging proteins and lipids to vesicles to be
or plasma membrane.
delivered to targeted destinations
• Proteins modification and enzymatic processing occur
near the membrane surface in Golgi bodies.
• Transport vesicles deposit their contents into other parts of the cell
where they will be used while, secretory vesicles fuse with the plasma
membrane and release their contents outside the cell.
