Cell Membrane & Structure
The three major regions of a generalized cell.
What are the Plasma Membrane, Cytoplasm, and Nucleus?
The net movement of particles from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration.
What is Diffusion?
Any transport process that requires the cell to use energy, usually ATP, to move substances against their concentration gradient.
What is Active Transport?
The site of cellular respiration, which produces the vast majority of the cell's ATP.
What is the Mitochondrion?
The phase of the cell cycle where the cell performs its normal metabolic activities and DNA replication occurs.
What is Interphase?
The most common type of lipid in the plasma membrane, featuring a hydrophilic head and hydrophobic tails.
What is a Phospholipid
The transport process where lipid-soluble molecules pass directly through the lipid bilayer of the cell membrane.
What is Simple Diffusion?
The process known as "cell eating" where the cell engulfs large particles like bacteria or cell debris.
What is Phagocytosis?
The membranous organelle that modifies, concentrates, and packages proteins and lipids made in the endoplasmic reticulum.
What is the Golgi Apparatus?
The first phase of protein synthesis, where the genetic code is copied from DNA into an mRNA molecule.
What is Transcription?
The term for the small, specialized cellular extensions that increase the cell's surface area for absorption, often found on epithelial cells of the intestine.
What are Microvilli?
The net movement of solvent (specifically water) across a selectively permeable membrane.
What is Osmosis?
The process where large substances are moved out of the cell, often used for hormone secretion or waste removal.
What is Exocytosis?
The interconnected membranous sacs dotted with ribosomes, making it the site of protein synthesis and modification.
What is the Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum (RER)?
The phase of mitosis where the chromosomes line up at the cell's equator or midline.
What is Metaphase?
The type of cell junction that is a zipper-like connection, preventing fluids and most molecules from leaking between cells.
What is a Tight Junction?
The movement of a substance down its concentration gradient that requires a channel or carrier protein to cross the membrane.
What is Facilitated Diffusion?
The specific type of active transport used by the Na+/K+ pump, which gets its energy directly from ATP.
What is Primary Active Transport?
The organelle that contains powerful digestive enzymes and acts as the cell's "demolition crew" to break down worn-out organelles.
What is a Lysosome?
The second phase of protein synthesis, where the mRNA code is read by a ribosome to assemble a polypeptide chain.
What is Translation?
The junction type known as a "communicating junction" that allows ions and small molecules to pass directly from one cell to the next.
What is a Gap Junction?
The pressure exerted by the movement of water into a cell due to a difference in solute concentration.
What is Osmotic Pressure?
At the resting membrane potential, this ion has a much higher concentration outside the cell.
What is Sodium ion (Na+)?
The collective term for the three types of protein rods (microfilaments, intermediate filaments, and microtubules) that provide the cell's internal support structure
What is the Cytoskeleton?
The process of programmed cell death, where a cell self-destructs in an orderly manner.
What is Apoptosis?