GCSE Biology: Cell Structure

5th April 2017

New GCSE English Syllabus

Biology - cell structure - all you need to learn and know!

 

We’ll be going through some more terms and definitions here that you’ll have to be able to understand for your exams. Cell structure is an important topic in the new Biology GCSE syllabus so it’s important that you give a lot of focus to this factsheet.

Below are all the different terms that describe plants and animal cells. Each is explained so you’ll be able to learn exactly what each keyword means.

Eukaryotes are animal and plant cells. These eukaryotes have a cell membrane, a cytoplasm and genetic material which is stored in the nucleus. Don’t worry if you don’t understand what these are - we’re going to go through them all below!

Prokaryotes are bacterial cells. These are a lot smaller than eukaryotes. They too have a cell membrane and a cytoplasm. The cell membrane is surrounded by a cell wall and the genetic material isn’t held in the nucleus. Instead genetic information can be found in a singular DNA loop which sometimes has a few other rings of DNA called plasmids.

The cells of animals and plants…

The cell wall strengthens the cell.

A cell membrane has control of what substances enter and exit the cell.

A nucleus is where genetic material is often stored. This is also where the cell’s actions are controlled from.

The cytoplasm is the place in which most of the chemical reactions take place and it’s controlled by enzymes.

Chloroplasts consist of chlorophyll. This chlorophyll absorbs energy from light for photosynthesis.

There is a permanent vacuole which is filled with cell sap. This keeps the cell turgid. Turgid means bloated and swollen!

Mitochondria is where energy is released through respiration.

The ribosome cells are where protein synthesises.

With a bit of revision this should all be clear and make sense. With this information your cell structure topic will be a breeze to answer in the exam!


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