🧬 Biology · Cells
Cell Organelles and Their Jobs practice questions
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Which of these structures is found in a bacterial cell?
Answer: Ribosomes. Bacteria are prokaryotes, so they have no nucleus and none of the membrane-bound organelles such as mitochondria or a Golgi apparatus. Every cell has ribosomes, because every cell has to build proteins.
Which organelle makes most of the ATP in a typical eukaryotic cell?
Answer: Mitochondrion. Mitochondria convert the energy in food molecules into ATP. Ribosomes build proteins, lysosomes break down materials with enzymes, and the Golgi apparatus sorts and packs proteins and lipids.
Which organelle in an animal cell contains digestive enzymes that break down worn-out cell parts?
Answer: Lysosome. Lysosomes are sacs of digestive enzymes. The nucleolus makes parts of ribosomes, smooth ER makes lipids, and ribosomes build proteins.
A cell makes a protein that will be released from the cell. Which order shows the path of the protein, from the ribosome that builds it to its release?
Answer: Ribosome on the rough ER → vesicle → Golgi apparatus → vesicle → cell membrane. The ribosome builds the protein on the rough ER. A vesicle carries it to the Golgi apparatus, where it is finished and packed into a new vesicle, which fuses with the cell membrane. The Golgi apparatus comes after the rough ER, not before it. Smooth ER has no ribosomes. And a lysosome breaks down materials, so it is not on the route.
Which list contains only structures that are found in plant cells but not in animal cells?
Answer: Cell wall, chloroplasts, large central vacuole. The cell wall, chloroplasts and large central vacuole are in plant cells but not animal cells. The second list includes mitochondria, which are in both. The third includes ribosomes, which are in both, and lysosomes, which are standard in animal cells. The last list includes the nucleus, which is in both.
Which statement about cell walls is correct?
Answer: Plants, fungi and most bacteria have cell walls, but animal cells do not. Cell walls appear in plants, fungi, most bacteria, most archaea and some protists. Animal cells have none. So ‘only plant cells’ is a mix-up, and ‘all eukaryotic cells’ is wrong because animal cells have no wall. A cell with a wall still has a cell membrane inside it.
A cell is packed with rough ER. Which job is it best suited for?
Answer: Making and releasing large amounts of protein. Rough ER has ribosomes attached, and it handles proteins that are exported, placed in membranes or sent to lysosomes. Breaking down worn-out organelles is the job of lysosomes, photosynthesis happens in chloroplasts, and DNA is stored in the nucleus.
A student writes, ‘Mitochondria create energy for the cell.’ Which is the best correction?
Answer: Mitochondria convert the energy in food molecules into ATP, and they do not create energy. Energy is converted, not created. Mitochondria convert chemical energy stored in food molecules into ATP, and they are in plant cells too. Storing sunlight is done by photosynthesis in chloroplasts. And mitochondria do make most of the ATP in eukaryotic cells.
Mitochondria and chloroplasts have their own small DNA and their own ribosomes. Which is the leading scientific explanation?
Answer: They descended from free-living prokaryotes that were taken inside ancestor cells long ago. The endosymbiotic theory says that mitochondria and chloroplasts descended from prokaryotes that ended up living inside larger cells. Their own DNA, their ribosomes and their double membranes fit that idea. The nucleolus makes ribosome parts, not organelles. And having mitochondria is normal for healthy eukaryotic cells.
In a cell that releases a hormone protein, a researcher blocks the vesicles that leave the Golgi apparatus. Where would the hormone protein most likely pile up?
Answer: In the Golgi apparatus. The protein reaches the Golgi apparatus by vesicles from the ER, and it is packed into new vesicles there. If those vesicles cannot leave, the protein builds up at that step. It is not made in the nucleus or mitochondria, and it cannot reach the outside of the cell without the vesicles that fuse with the cell membrane.