CELLS

Cells
2.1 Animal and plant cells
2.2 Bacterial cells
2.3 Specialised cells
2.4 Sizes of specimens
2.1 Animal and plant
cells
• All organisms are made of cells
• Cells are very small, so large
organisms contain millions of cells.
• They are multicellular.
• Some organisms are unicellular,
which means that they are made
of just a single cell.
• Bacteria and yeast are examples of
single-celled organisms.
• All cells are made from existing
cells.
• New cells are formed when a fully
grown cell divides.
 Cell was discovered by a British
scientist, Robert Hooke in 1665

This is his self-designed microscope

He observed cells in a cork slice

He noticed honeycomb like

compartments and He coined them
as cells.
• Almost all cells are so small that you
need a MICROSCOPE to see them.
• To see smaller things inside a cell,
an electron microscope is used.
• A picture taken with an electron
microscope is called an electron
micrograph.
• This type of microscope uses a
beam of electrons instead of light
• Can magnify things up to 500 000
times.
• This means that a lot more detail
can be seen inside a cell.
• We can see many structures more
clearly and can see some structures
that cannot be seen at all with a
light microscope
There are two distinct types of
cell –

Cell

Prokaryoti Eukaryoti
c c
 Prokaryotic Cells
• Prokaryotes
Pro = before
karyon = nucleus
• Bacterial cells are a type of
prokaryotic cell
• A defining feature of
prokaryotic cells is that their
genetic material is not
enclosed within a nucleus, it is
found as a single loop of DNA
within the cytoplasm
 Eukaryotic Cells

• Eukaryotes
Eu = true
karyon = nucleus
• A defining feature of
eukaryotic cells is that
their genetic material
(DNA) is enclosed within a
nucleus
• Eukaryotic cells vary in
size, usually between 10
and 100 µm
 What are unicellular and
multicellular organisms. Give
examples of each
A cell consists of three
parts:
• Cell
membrane
• Nucleus and
• Cytoplasm
Parts of a cell
Plant Cell Wall
• All plant cells are
surrounded by a cell wall
made mainly of cellulose.
• Paper, which is made from
cell walls, is also made of
cellulose.
• Animal cells never have cell
walls.
 Parts of a cell
Plant Cell Wall
• Cellulose belongs to a group of
substances called
polysaccharides,
• Cellulose forms fibres which
criss-cross over one another to
form a very strong covering to
the cell.
• This helps to protect and
support the cell.
 Parts of a cell
Plant Cell Wall
• If the cell absorbs a lot of water
and swells, the cell wall stops it
bursting.
• Because of the spaces between
fibres, even very large
molecules are able to go
through the cellulose cell wall.
• It is described as fully
permeable.
Parts of a cell
Cell membrane
• Every cell has a cell membrane
around the outside.
• The cell membrane is a very thin
layer of protein and fat.
• It is very important to the cell
because it controls what goes in
and out of it.
• It is said to be partially permeable,
which means that it will let some
substances through but not others.
 Parts of a cell

Cell membrane
• The cell membrane separates
the contents of the cell from
its environment
(surroundings).
• It is difficult to see the cell
membrane in a plant cell,
because it is pressed tightly
against the inside of the cell
wall.
Cytoplasm
• Cytoplasm is a clear jelly.
• It is nearly all water; about
70% is water in many
cells.
• It contains many
substances dissolved in it,
especially proteins.
• Many different metabolic
reactions (the chemical
reactions of life) take
place in the cytoplasm.
Parts of a cell
Sap vacuole:- Storage
and Support
• A vacuole is a fluid-filled space
inside a cell which is surrounded
by its own membrane.
• Plant cells have very large,
permanent vacuoles, which
contain a solution of sugars and
other substances called cell sap.
• When the vacuole is full, it presses
outwards on the rest of the cell,
and helps it to keep its shape.
• Animal cells have much smaller
vacuoles, called vesicle, which
also contain solutions
Parts of a cell
Nucleus
• The nucleus (plural: nuclei)
is where the genetic
information is stored.
• The information is kept on
the chromosome, which are
inherited from the
organism’s parents.
• The chromosomes are
made of DNA.
Parts of a cell
Nucleus
• The information carried on
the DNA determines the
kinds of proteins that are
made in the cell.
• Chromosomes are very
long, but so thin that they
cannot easily be seen even
using an electron
microscope.
• when the cell is dividing,
they
• become short and thick,
Chloroplast
• Chloroplasts are never
found in animal cells, but
most of the cells in the
green parts of plants have
them.
• They contain the green
coloring or pigment called
chlorophyll.
• Chlorophyll absorbs energy
from sunlight, and this
energy is then used in
making food for the plant
Chloroplast
• Chloroplasts often contain
starch grains, which have
been made by
photosynthesis
• Animal cells never contain
starch grains.
Mitochondrion
• There are some smaller
structures inside cells that
we cannot see clearly
unless we use an electron
microscope.
• These include mitochondria
(singular: mitochondrion).
• Mitochondria are found in
almost all plant and animal
cells.
• Mitochondria are the parts
of the cell where aerobic
respiration happens.
Mitochondrion

• This is how energy is

released from glucose.
• Aerobic respiration is the
main way in which cells get
the energy that they need
to stay alive.
• The more energy a cell
needs, the more
mitochondria it has.
• Muscle cells, for example,
are packed full of
mitochondria
Ribosomes
• Ribosomes are tiny
structures found in almost
all animal cells and plant
cells.
• Ribosomes are where the
cell makes proteins.
• The instructions on the DNA
molecules are used to link
together long chains of
amino acids in a particular
sequence.
1. Whether it is prokaryotic cell or eukaryotic cell? Why?
2.2 BACTERIAL CELLS
• Bacteria (singular: bacterium) are
unicellular organisms.
• Bacterial cells are rather different from
the cells of animals and plants.
• Bacterial cells always have a cell wall.
• Unlike plant cells, this cell wall is not
made of cellulose. But the function is
the same as in plant cells
• The bacterial cell wall helps to support
the cell, and stops it bursting if the cell
takes up a lot of water.
2.2 BACTERIAL CELLS
• A partially permeable cell
membrane is pressed tightly
against the inside of the bacterial
cell wall.
• As in plant and animal cells, the
cell membrane controls what
enters and leaves the cell.
• Bacterial cells have cytoplasm
and ribosomes, which have the
same functions as in animal and
plant cells.
• They do not have mitochondria or
chloroplasts
2.2 BACTERIAL CELLS
• The most important difference
between a bacterial cell and
animal or plant cells is that
bacteria do not have a nucleus.
• Bacterial cells are also known as
prokaryotic cells.
• ‘Pro’ means ‘before’, and
‘karyotic’ means ‘nucleus’.
• Prokaryotic cells appeared on
Earth millions of years before
cells with nuclei appeared
• Instead of chromosomes inside
a nucleus, bacteria have a circle
of DNA.
• This is sometimes called a
bacterial chromosome.
• The DNA has exactly the same
function as in other cells – it
provides instructions for making
proteins.
• Bacterial cells often have one or
more smaller circles of DNA,
called plasmids.
• Scientists can use plasmids in
the genetic modification of cells
and organisms.
Differences between plant
and animal cells
 2.3 Specialised cells
• Multicellular organisms, such as humans or plants, may contain
many millions of cells.
• Not all of these cells are alike.
• For example, in a human body almost all of our cells have the
same features that are found in most animal cells – a cell
membrane, cytoplasm, mitochondria, ribosomes, and a nucleus.
• But most of our cells have a particular function to perform, and
their structure is modified to help them to carry out that
function effectively.
• They are said to be specialised.
• The same is true in a flowering plant, where all the cells have
the basic characteristics of plant cells, but then have slightly
different structures that relate to their specific functions.
 2.3 Specialised
cells
Red blood cells Muscle cells

Nerve cells Ova Cilliated cells

Sperm Villi
 TISSUES
• Often, cells that specialise in the same activity
are found together.
• A group of cells like this is called a tissue.
• An example of a tissue is a layer of cells lining
your stomach.
• These cells make enzymes to help to digest
your food
• The stomach also contains other tissues.
• For example, there is a layer of muscle in the
stomach wall, made of cells which can move.
• This muscle tissue makes the wall of the
stomach move in and out, churning the food
and mixing it up with enzymes.
• Plants also have tissues.
• some epidermis tissue from an onion bulb.
• Inside a leaf, a layer of cells makes up the
palisade tissue – these cells are specialised to
carry out photosynthesis.
 ORGANS
• A group of different tissues that carry out a
function together is called an organ.
• The stomach is an organ. Other organs
include the heart, the kidneys and the
lungs.
• In a plant, an onion bulb is an organ. A leaf
is another example of a plant organ.
• The stomach is only one of the organs
which help in the digestion of food.
• The mouth, the intestines and the stomach
are all part of an organ system called the
digestive system.
• The heart is part of the circulatory system,
while each kidney is part of the excretory
system.
• Cells make up tissues, which make up
organs, which make up organ systems,
which make up organisms.
 2.4 SIZES OF SPECIMENS
• Many of the structures that biologists study are very small.
• Cells, for example, are so small that we cannot see them without a
microscope.
• The photographs and diagrams of cells in are all much larger than
actual cells
• We can tell someone how much bigger the image is than the actual
object by giving its magnification.
• The magnification of an object is how many times larger it is than
the real object.
There are two very important things to remember when you are
calculating a magnification:
• Make sure that all the numbers in your calculation have the
same units. It is often a good idea to convert everything to
millimetres, mm, before you do anything else.
• Magnification is always written with a multiplication sign in
front of it, ×.
• Magnification does not have units.
• Some of the objects that we study in biology are so small that
even millimetres are not a suitable unit to use for measuring
them.
• Instead, we use micrometres. The symbol for a micrometre is
μm.
1μm = 1 × 10−6 m
1m = 106 μm