CELL BIOLOGY

What is Cell Biology?

Cell Biology(formerly calledcytology)is a branch
ofbiology that studies the different structures and
functions of thecell and focuses mainly on the idea of the
cell as the basic unit of life.
Cell biology explains the structure, organization of
theorganelles they contain, theirphysiological
properties,metabolic processes,signaling pathways,life
cycle, and interactions with their environment.
Research in cell biology is closely related
togenetics,biochemistry,molecular biology,immunology,
anddevelopmental biology.
Cell Structure
Cell Diversity
Cell size
Classification of Cell
The cell shape varies among the different types of
organisms
Two categories:
Eukaryotes and
Prokaryotes
Eukaryotic cells - which are made up of animal, plant,
fungi, and protozoa cells - the shapes are generally round
and spherical.
Prokaryotic cells which are composed of bacteria and
archaea - the shapes are: spherical (cocci), rods (bacillus),
curved (vibrio) and spirals
 Focus on Cell
Biology
Cell biology focuses more on the study of eukaryotic cells,
and their signaling pathways, rather than on prokaryotes
which is covered undermicrobiology.

The main constituents of the general molecular composition of

the cell includes: proteins and lipids.

This environment of the cell is made

ofhydrophilicandhydrophobic regions which allows for the
exchange of the above-mentioned molecules and ions.

The cell membrane consists of lipids and proteins which

accounts for its hydrophobicity as a result of being non-polar
substances. Therefore, in order for these molecules to
participate in reactions, within the cell, they need to be able to
cross this membrane layer to get into the cell.
Cell Cycle
 Growth and

Development
The growth process of the cell does not refer to the
size of the cell, but instead the density of the number
of cells present in the organism at a given time.
Cell growthpertains to the increase in the number of
cells present in an organism as it grows and develops;
as the organism gets larger so too does the number of
cells present.
Cell goes through the steps of thecell cycleand
development which involves cell growth,DNA
replication,cell division, regeneration, specialization,
andcell death.
The cell cycle is regulated by a series of signaling
factors and complexes such as CDK's,kinases,
andp53. to name a few.
When the cell has completed its growth process, and if
it is found to be damaged or altered it undergoes cell
death, either byapoptosis ornecrosis, to eliminate the
threat it cause to the organisms survival.
 Cellular processes
Active transportandPassive transport- Movement
ofmoleculesinto and out of cells.
Autophagy- The process whereby cells "eat" their own
internal components ormicrobialinvaders.
Adhesion- Holding together cells andtissues.
Cell movement
-Chemotaxis,contraction,ciliaandflagella.
Cell signaling- Regulation of cell behavior by signals from
outside.
Division- By which cells reproduce either bymitosis(to
produce clones of the parent cell) orMeiosis(to
producehaploidgametes)
DNA repair-Cell deathand cellsenescence.
Metabolism-Glycolysis,respiration,photosynthesis,
andchemosynthesis.
Signalling- The process by which the activities in the cell
are regulated
TranscriptionandmRNA splicing-Geneexpression.
 Techniques used to study cells
Cell cultureis the basic technique of growing cells in
alaboratory independent of an organism.
Immunostaining, also known asimmunohistochemistry,
is a specialized histological method used to localize
proteins in cells or tissue slices.
Computational genomics is used to find patterns in
genomic information
DNA microarraysidentify changes in transcript levels
between different experimental conditions.
Gene knockdown mutatesa selected gene.
In situ hybridizationshows which cells are expressing a
particularRNA transcript.
PCRcan be used to determine how many copies of a
gene are present in a cell.
Transfectionintroduces a new gene into a cell, usually
an expression construct
 Purification of cells and their
parts
Cell fractionation:
Release of cellular organelles by disruption of cells.
Separation of different organelles bycentrifugation.
Flow cytometry
Immunoprecipitation:
The binding of an antibody to a target protein
Collection of the target protein through elution
Proteins extracted fromcell membranes bydetergents
andsalts or other kinds ofchemicals.
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