Living Cell

LIVING CELL

Introduction

The cell is the basic structural and functional unit in all living organisms. Living forms vary in size but they are all made up of cells. In unicellular organisms, the cell is the organ. As an organism grow in complexity, the cells increase in number and similar cells aggregate into tissues and organs with specialized functions. The shape of the cell is often determined by its function and the size of the cell is determined by the optimum dimensions that will enable it to perform its duties more effectively.

The human body is composed of a multiple of specialized tissues which inturn consist of vast clusters of cells differentiated into specialised chemical factories which perform various biochemical reactions.

Types of cells

Two general types are recognised in nature. They are prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.

Prokaryotic cells

Prokaryotes were the first cells to arise in biological evolution. They are very small and simple having only a single membrane. The cell membrane, is usually surrounded by a rigid cell wall.

They are devoid of nucleus and membranous organelles such as mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum etc. (Fig. 1.1).

Eukaryotic cells

Eukaryotic cells are presumably derived from prokaryotes. They are much larger and much more complex than prokaryotic cells (Fig. 1.2).

They have nucleus and membrane bound subcellular organelles. Many of their metabolic reactions are segregated within structural compartments. The significant differences between prokaryotic and enkaryotic cells are:

The eukaryotic cell structure is composed of (i) cell membrane, (ii) nucleus (iii) mitochondria (iv) endoplasmic reticulum (v) golgi apparatus (vi) ribosomes (vii) lysosomes and others. These specialised structural units are called as subcellular organnelles. Biochemistry today is increasingly concerned with the structure of cells and their organelles.