Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Due to the unique function of lysozyme in which it can digest the cell wall and causes osmotic shock (burst the cell by suddenly changing solute concentration around the cell and thus the osmotic pressure), lysozyme is commonly used in lab setting to release proteins from bacterium periplasm while the inner membrane remains sealed as vesicles ...
As biological membranes are integral to living cells and are largely composed of phospholipids, lipases play important roles in cell biology. Malassezia globosa , a fungus thought to be the cause of human dandruff , uses lipase to break down sebum into oleic acid and increase skin cell production, causing dandruff.
Cell motility involves many receptors, crosslinking, bundling, binding, adhesion, motor and other proteins. [16] The process is divided into three steps: protrusion of the leading edge of the cell, adhesion of the leading edge and de-adhesion at the cell body and rear, and cytoskeletal contraction to pull the cell forward.
Most synapses connect axons to dendrites, [8] [9] but there are also other types of connections, including axon-to-cell-body, [10] [11] axon-to-axon, [10] [11] and dendrite-to-dendrite. [9] Synapses are generally too small to be recognizable using a light microscope except as points where the membranes of two cells appear to touch, but their ...
The function of neurons depends upon cell polarity. The distinctive structure of nerve cells allows action potentials to travel directionally (from dendrites to cell body down the axon), and for these signals to then be received and carried on by post-synaptic neurons or received by effector cells. Nerve cells have long been used as models for ...
Christian de Duve, at the Laboratory of Physiological Chemistry at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, had been studying the mechanism of action of insulin in liver cells. By 1949, he and his team had focused on the enzyme called glucose 6-phosphatase , which is the first crucial enzyme in sugar metabolism and the target of insulin.
In cell biology, an organelle is a specialized subunit, usually within a cell, that has a specific function.The name organelle comes from the idea that these structures are parts of cells, as organs are to the body, hence organelle, the suffix -elle being a diminutive.
Its primary function is to give the cell its shape and mechanical resistance to deformation, and through association with extracellular connective tissue and other cells it stabilizes entire tissues. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] The cytoskeleton can also contract, thereby deforming the cell and the cell's environment and allowing cells to migrate . [ 6 ]