Video Transcript
The diagram provided shows a basic
animal cell. What organelle is represented by
label one? What organelle is represented by
label two? What organelle is represented by
label three?
This question is asking us to
identify the different parts of an animal cell. An animal cell is a type of
eukaryotic cell. Eukaryotic cells possess
membrane-bound organelles, as well as a nucleus in which the DNA is stored, as
opposed to prokaryotic cells, such as bacteria, which do not possess those
things. Also, since we know this is an
animal cell, we know that this cell will not contain a cell wall or any
chloroplasts, which you might find the cells of plants and some protists, which are
also eukaryotic. In order to answer this question,
we’ll go ahead and label all the structures that are visible in this basic animal
cell diagram.
First, we see the cell
membrane. The cell membrane separates the
inside of the cell from the environment around it. It also controls what enters and
leaves the cell. The cytoplasm is the jelly-like
filling of the cell. The cytoplasm is made mostly of
water, salts, and proteins. All of the organelles within the
cell are embedded snugly within the cytoplasm. Next, we have the nuclear membrane
and the nucleus. The nuclear membrane is a double
membrane. It’s represented here by a
dashed-line because it possesses pores that allow materials to move in and out of
the nucleus.
The nucleus contains the DNA that
controls the activities of the cell. It also contains some other things
like RNA and ribosomes. The last structure visible in this
diagram are the mitochondria. The mitochondria are small,
bean-shaped organelles represented here in red. They have a folded, layered inner
membrane that’s shown in this diagram by the small black lines you see within each
mitochondria. Mitochondria are responsible for
carrying out cellular respiration, in which glucose and oxygen are used to produce
ATP, which is used for cellular energy, and carbon dioxide, which is given off as
waste.
Now, we’re ready to answer our
question. Based on what we’ve learned, we
know that the organelle represented by label one must be a mitochondria. And label two is pointing to the
nucleus of the cell. And the organelle represented by
label three is the cell membrane.
