Coasting Through Life’s Theme Park

By: Maggie Pahos, Amanda Donnelly, Don Kane, and Andrew Nicholas

The Wonders of Life's Basic Building Blocks

Tour Map

Hello everyone! Welcome to the wonderful tour of a cell in Don's body! The cell we will be visiting today is an animal cell. We've picked out the eight most important parts of the cell. Buy your tickets at the heart.

Okay. Board our RNA "sTrain" with your tickets. Hurry up!

Before we begin the tour, we would like to inform you about how we are getting into the cell. Our "sTrain" is a complex code of RNA that we are sitting in at the very moment. Our RNA is surrounded by a protected cover of proteins. If you folks know anything about virology, you would know that RNA and proteins usually make up a virus. But don't worry, our "sTrain" is specially designed to not harm the cell. Please keep your arms and legs in the vehicle at all times. We are coming close to the cell! Buckle up your seat belts!

Right now we are being attached to the cell membrane, also called the plasma membrane. This part of the cell allows it to absorb and extract molecules in and out of the cell. This is truly the cell's outer boundary. The proteins on this phospholipid layer are attracted to the proteins on our "sTrain". We will soon be sucked into the cell.

Plasma Membrane

The cell has let us in and we are now being transported towards the rough ER. Please do not open your windows, it's pretty gooey out there! All the organelles and insides of the cell are floating in the cytosol. If you look to your right, you can see the mitochondria hard at work! Right now it is taking in all the fats or "lipids" and sugars to turn them into energy for our cell! This process is known as cellular respiration. Those floating globs you see are basic vesicles and vacuoles, which store materials for our cell to use later. Now we are approaching the rough endoplasmic reticulum and the ribosomes are waiting for us. Let's go!

Mitochondria Vacuole

The ribosomes are breaking our RNA down into protein and will put us into the rough endoplasmic reticulum shortly. Notice the enormous organelle not far away from us. That is the nucleus, the ultimate control center of the cell. It uses genetic code and DNA to produce enzymes and proteins that allow our cell to function. Without it, the cell would be worthless and life wouldn't exist.

Ribosome Nucleus

The ribosomes have broken us down and we are traveling through the endoplasmic reticulum, our personal super-highway. Soon, a vesicle will be taking us out and transporting us to the Golgi apparatus.

3D Diagram Real ER

We have left the rough ER and are traveling to the Golgi apparatus through a lysosome. Lysosomes are complex membranous vesicles that are used to break down proteins. Another type of complex vesicle is the peroxisome, primarily utilized to digest excess waste and ship it out of the cell.

Peroxisome Lysosome

The lysosome has taken us to the Golgi apparatus, where we will be processed, packaged, and shipped out of the cell. Notice the pancake stack appearance of the organelle. This a very eminent part of the cell as it carries out some of its final processes. Not all proteins and enzymes that go through the apparatus are shipped out of the cell. Many are stored in the vacuoles for later use. For example, it may store proteins and enzymes that can be used to produce adrenaline when the body needs it, when Don needs to get excited or hyper for an athletic event!

Don’s Adrenaline Rush (Thanks Golgi!)Golgi Apparatus

The Golgi apparatus is done with us and has decided to ship us out of the cell to be digested from the body. This concludes our exciting tour on the RNA "sTrain". We hope you had a delightful and insightful experience, but don't worry if you missed anything. We have provided a organelle review to improve your understanding of the animal cell we just visited!

Thanks for Riding with Us!

Microsoft Word DocumentClick Review Doc --

Bibliography

• Google Image Directory. [Online]. http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=. Oct. 19, 2003

• Animal Cells. [Online]. http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/A/AnimalCells.html. Oct. 18, 2003

• Mader, Sylvia S. Inquiry to Life. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003.