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The plasma membrane is not a fixed or rigid structure, the molecules that compose the membrane are capable of lateral movement. This movement and the multiple components of the membrane are why it is referred to as a fluid mosaic. Smaller molecules such as carbon dioxide, water, and oxygen can pass through the plasma membrane freely by ...
These offshoots of the endomembrane system are enclosed by a phospholipid bilayer and can fuse with other organelles as well as the plasma membrane. Their membrane is only semipermeable and allows them to house substances that could be harmful to the cell if they were allowed to flow freely within the cytosol.
Eukaryote cells include a variety of membrane-bound structures, together forming the endomembrane system. [23] Simple compartments, called vesicles and vacuoles , can form by budding off other membranes.
Molecules or ligands internalized from the plasma membrane can follow this pathway all the way to lysosomes for degradation or can be recycled back to the cell membrane in the endocytic cycle. Molecules are also transported to endosomes from the trans Golgi network and either continue to lysosomes or recycle back to the Golgi apparatus .
Illustration of a eukaryotic cell membrane Comparison of a eukaryotic vs. a prokaryotic cell membrane. The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane or cytoplasmic membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological membrane that separates and protects the interior of a cell from the outside environment (the extracellular space).
The Golgi apparatus (/ ˈ ɡ ɒ l dʒ i /), also known as the Golgi complex, Golgi body, or simply the Golgi, is an organelle found in most eukaryotic cells. [1] Part of the endomembrane system in the cytoplasm, it packages proteins into membrane-bound vesicles inside the cell before the vesicles are sent to their destination.
It anchors organelles within the cells and makes up the structure and stability of the cell. The cytoskeleton is composed of three principal types of protein filaments: actin filaments, intermediate filaments, and microtubules, which are held together and linked to subcellular organelles and the plasma membrane by a variety of accessory proteins.
Modern eukaryotic cells use the endomembrane system to transport products and wastes in, within, and out of cells. The membrane of nuclear envelope and endomembrane vesicles are composed of similar membrane proteins. [49] These vesicles also share similar membrane proteins with the organelle they originated from or are traveling towards. [50]