Glossary
- Alpha Helix
- DNA forms a specific formation called a alpha
helix.
- Amino Acid
- The basic subunit of proteins.
- Atom
- One unit of a given element.
- Bacteria
-
- Carbohydrate
-
- Carbon
- One of the common elements
found in organic matter and living things.
- Cell Wall
- found in prokaryotic
plants and it provides structural support and protection.
- Chloroplasts
- convert light/food into usable energy. (ATP production)
- Cholesterol
- Found in cell membranes, affects the rigidity of the membrane.
Also a basic compound
used to form man hormones.
- Chromatin
-
- Chromosome
- A group of genes/DNA
that are contiguous, a functional unit. Humans have 23 pairs
chromosomes.
- Cilia
- Hair-like structures.
- Cisternae
- The flatten sacs of the
Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum.
- Crossover
- Genetics term for
chromosomes literally crossing over DNA from one chromosome to another.
- Cyanophytes
- One type of
prokaryote (cell without a nucleus).
- Cytoplasm
-
- Cytoskeleton
- Microtubules,
actin and intermediate filaments. This produces the support
structure/shape of cells. Of course plant cells have a much more rigid
shape due to the cell wall.
- Cytosol
- The 'fluid' portion of the
cell, it is made up of water and many free proteins and other elements
- all
except the organelles.
- DNA
- Deoxyribonucleic Acid, made up of 4
nucleotides: Adenine, Guanine, Thymine, and Cytosine (A,G,T,C).
- Element
- Element is one atom of a
particular substance found on the periodic table. (Things such as
Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, etc.)
- Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER)
- Important for
protein synthesis. It is a transport network for molecules destined for
specific modifications and locations. There are two types: Rough ER -
has ribosomes, and tends to be more in 'sheets'. Smooth ER - Does not
have ribosomes and tends to be more of a tubular network.
- Eukaryote
- A Cell with a nucleus.
- Flagella
-
- Gene
-
- Genetic Material
-
- Globular Protein
-
- Glycolipids
-
- Glycoprotiens
-
- Golgi Apparatus
- important for
glycosylation, secretion.
- Histones
-
- Hydrogen
- A common element in
organic and living organisms.
- Hydrophilic
- 'likes water' (hydro
= water; philic = like). Meaning that a hydrophilic molecule or
portion
would be attracted to water. Much like the opposite poles of a
magnet
pulling each other together.
- Hydrophobic
- 'fears water' (hydro
= water; phobic = fear). Meaning that a hydrophobic molecule or
portion
would be repulsed/push-away a water molecule. This would be like
trying
to put together the same pole of two magnets. Examples: oils,
fatty
acids (i.e. the 'tails' of phospholipids), cholesterol.
- Lipid
-
- Lysosomes
- Digestive sacks - the
main point of digestion, these are only found in animal cells.
- Meiosis
- is a type of cell division.
See section on meiosis. This
occurs for
formation of egg/sperm cells, which in the end have 1/2 the normal
number of chromosomes, only 1 copy of each chromosome.
- Micrometer
- A unit of measure in the
metric system. 10^-6 meters.
- Microtubules
- made from tubulin,
and make up centrioles,cilia,etc.
- Millimeter
- A unit of measure in
the metric system. 10^-3 meters.
- Mitochondria
- convert foods into
usable energy (ATP production). A mitochondrion does this through
aerobic respiration. They have 2 membranes, the inner membranes
shapes
differ between different types of cells, but they form projections
called cristae. The mitochondrion is about the size of a
bacteria, and
it carries its own genetic material and ribosomes.
- Mitosis
- The cell division, that is
found in most non-reproductive cells.
- Nanometer
- A unit of measure in the
metric system. 10^-9 meters.
- Nitrogen
- A common element in
organic and living organisms.
- Nucleic Acid
- Basic Building
block for DNA.
- Nucleolus
- Densely packed
portion of the Nucleus.
- Nucleus
- (only in eukaryotes) - where
genetic material (DNA) is located, RNA is transcribed.
- Organelles
- (which also have
membranes) in 'higher' eukaryote organisms:
- Osmosis
-
- Oxygen
- A common element in organic
and living organisms.
- Peptidoglycan
- This is the main
component of prokaryotic cell walls, it is made from a large protein
polymer and sugar.
- Peroxisomes
- Use oxygen to carry
out catabolic reactions, in both plant and animals.
- Phospholipid
- See the section of
the course on Cell Membranes and specifically phospholipids.
- Phosphorus
- A common element in
organic and living organisms.
- Plasma membrane
- The surface
around the cell made up of phospholipids, proteins, cholesterol, etc..
See the section on the Cell
Membrane
- Plasmid
-
- Plastids
-
- Prokaryote
- Cells without a
nucleus.
- Protein
-
- Protoplasm
-
- Pseudopod
- literally means 'False
foot'
- RNA
- Ribonucleic Acid
- RNApolymerase
-
- Recombination
-
- Ribosomes
- half are on the
Endoplasmic Reticulum, the other half are 'free' in the cytosol, this
is where the RNA goes for translation into proteins.
- Sulphur
- A common element in organic
and living organisms.
- tRNA
- Transfer RNA, cool 3D structure.
It works with the ribosome and mRNA to form proteins (called
translation). It has a 'anti-codon' which will match codons of the
mRNA, and also has a amino-acid. The tRNA is a key to the having the
Amino-acid match a specific codon on the mRNA, See the Codon Table to see how
these are matched in general.
- Please NOTE: There are differences in how
the matches take place in mitochondria and bacteria.
- Vacuole
-
- Vesicle
-
- Cell Biology Course Index
Please send questions/comments/suggestions to: Mark
Dalton at markwdalton@gmail.com.