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Nucleus
Valuable items are usually kept in a protected safe, opened only when they are needed. A nucleus of a cell can be thought of a vault in which very important instructions are kept. Genetic material in the form of DNA can be found in the nucleus of eukaryotes. All organisms need instructions to produce the proteins needed for life and the manual on how to regulate various processes. The DNA is kept in the nucleus and copies in the form of RNA are made to leave the nucleus to do the work. Another concept way to think about a nucleus is as a library in which all of the materials need to be copied and can never leave the confines of that library. Under a microscope, the nucleus is usually a dark rounded object typically larger than the other organelles.
Mitochondria
These cellular organelles are involved in converting sugars into stored chemical energy in the form of ATP. When energy is needed within the cell to perform any type of work, ATP is utilized to provide the energy required to carry out the function. Mitochondria have an outer membrane and a convoluted inner membrane. The space between the two membranes is called the intermembrane space. The space within the inner membrane is known as the mitochondrial matrix. Various chemicals during cellular respiration are transported back and forth between the different spaces in the mitochondria.
Endoplasmic Reticulum
The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) provides a space to assemble and transport proteins the cell has made. Its structure is a made of a lumen that is an extension of the lumen found within the nucleus. Two major divisions of the ER are named by their appearance, rough and smooth. Rough ER is found closer to the nucleus and is characterized by the presence of ribosomes. Smooth ER is found further away from the nucleus and aids in transport of proteins to other sections of the cell or to be excreted. Sections of the smooth ER can pinch off to form a vesicle that is a package protein contents.
Chloroplasts
One of the major defining characteristics that sets plants aside from animals is their ability to produce food by the process of photosynthesis. Chloroplasts are cellular organelles that allow this to take place by using light energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose. Chlorophyll is a major pigment found within a disk-like structure called a thylakoid. The green pigment that is associated with plants comes from this organelle found in high concentrations in the leaves of a plant.
Cytoskeleton
The cytoskeleton provides the structure for the cell as well as providing a network to transport items within the cell itself. Microtubules are hollow tubes that can make up larger structures like cilia, flagella and centrioles. Microfilaments are another component of the cytoskeleton and are solid rods of proteins. In both of these structures, the smaller proteins are arranged into rounded tubes to give more support than a simple chain of proteins.