Cytoplasm
Everything inside the membrane except the nucleus: a watery gel, the cytosol, in which every organelle sits and much of the cell's chemistry happens.
- Mostly
- Water, salts and proteins
- Happens here
- The first stage of breaking down glucose
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Read-only showcaseInside an animal cell
Three mitochondria and four lysosomes: a part drawn many times answers as one region.
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Everything on this diagram
The same content as the picture, as text: every part and what it says when you open it.
Cell membrane
A thin, flexible double layer of fat molecules that holds the cell together and decides what goes in and out.
- Made of
- A bilayer of phospholipids, with proteins in it
- Thickness
- About 7–10 nanometres
- Lets through
- Some things freely, others only through channels
Smooth endoplasmic reticulum
A network of tubes with no ribosomes on them. It makes fats and steroids, breaks down some toxins, and stores calcium.
- Makes
- Lipids and steroid hormones
- Also
- Detoxifies drugs; stores calcium
Rough endoplasmic reticulum
Folded sheets studded with ribosomes, continuous with the nuclear envelope. Proteins made on it are threaded inside to be folded, then sent on to the Golgi.
- Studded with
- Ribosomes
- Makes
- Proteins for membranes and for export
- Joined to
- The nuclear envelope
Nucleus
The control centre. It holds the cell's DNA and decides which genes are read, sending its instructions out as messenger RNA through pores in its envelope.
- Holds
- DNA, as chromatin
- Bounded by
- A double membrane with pores
- Size
- About 6 micrometres across
Nucleolus
A dense region inside the nucleus where the parts of ribosomes are made, before they leave through the nuclear pores.
- Makes
- Ribosome subunits
- Has no
- Membrane of its own
Golgi apparatus
A stack of flattened sacs that receives proteins from the rough ER, finishes them, sorts them by destination and packs them into vesicles.
- Receives from
- The rough ER
- Does
- Modifies, sorts and packages proteins
- Ships in
- Vesicles
Mitochondria
The cell's power stations. They release the energy in food by aerobic respiration and store it as ATP. The inner membrane is folded into cristae to give it more surface.
- Make
- ATP, by aerobic respiration
- Inner membrane
- Folded into cristae
- Unusual
- They carry DNA of their own
- Drawn here
- Three; a real cell can hold hundreds
Lysosomes
Small sacs of digestive enzymes that break down worn-out parts, food particles and invaders, so their pieces can be reused.
- Contain
- Digestive enzymes
- Inside
- Acidic, about pH 4.5–5
Peroxisomes
Small sacs that break down fatty acids and some toxins, producing hydrogen peroxide - and the enzyme catalase, which makes it safe again.
- Break down
- Fatty acids and some toxins
- Contain
- Catalase
Vesicles
Tiny bubbles of membrane that carry cargo between the organelles, or to the membrane to be released from the cell.
- Carry
- Proteins and other cargo
- Bud from
- The ER and the Golgi
Centrosome
Organises the cell's microtubules. Its two centrioles sit at right angles, and when the cell divides it builds the spindle that pulls the chromosomes apart.
- Contains
- Two centrioles, at right angles
- Organises
- Microtubules and the spindle
Ribosomes
The machines that build proteins, reading messenger RNA one codon at a time. Free ones make proteins for the cell's own use; those on the rough ER make proteins to be exported.
- Read
- Messenger RNA
- Build
- Proteins
- Found
- Free, and on the rough ER
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