Little Glands

         The basic anatomy of the cell has been shown in the recent post of September 9th. All six major areas were named. How about that, only six! Let's see now ... 1) Nucleus [the general] ... 2) Nucleolus ... 3) Nuclear membrane [fatty acids!] ... 4) Nucleoplasm ... 5) Cytoplasm [all the space outside of the nucleus] ... and finally all that structural lipid ... 6) Cell membrane. Well, grab your hat, here is a scan of all those "little glands" out there in all that cytoplasm.

        These specialized bodies called "organelles", which means "little glands", are all about that cytoplasm. They each produce products which are the purpose of the cell's activities. For the genealogist who may have stuck it out this far, it is the "Mitochondrion" and its "ribosomes" that are of interest. The mitochrondial DNA ... mtDNA ... that lives about in here!

         For a little more discussion on this topic [mtDNA] see blog on "The Jones Surname DNA" May 24, 2017. Blog is: https://jonessurnamedna.blogspot.com. The scan from above is from my very large and heavy reference The Encyclopedia of Molecular Science, Blackwell Science, London, 1994, page 40. Certainly, not a light weight among those who get paid to know!

A quote for this day

                       "Dripping hollows out rock." -  OVID [P. Ovidius Naso] Roman Poet

                                                                                           43 B.C. - c. 17 A.D.

                                                  Was exiled to banks of Danube in his later days.

Remembering

Will still remember September 11, 2001. The Jones Genealogist on September 11, 2026 

Basic Anatomy

        All around the world, the skeleton of the human cell is the membrane. That super capital C - carbon and good old element capital H - hydrogen, join hands in long chains called hydrocarbons. (imagine that!) As discussed, inside and outside the cell, various functions occur continuously, to keep order among the "quadrillion" biochemical activities. What a deal indeed!

        Now there are other compartments to this anatomy which a scan may help draw a picture. Here is such a scan from page 10 of Guyton (post of July 15).

        Well, here you go. Basic anatomy it is. Find the membrane locations and then name the other principal structures. The headquarters is the nucleus with a nucleolus. The decisions of the cells purposes are already decided here by all that DNA stuff. Then outside the nucleus is the much larger area called the cytoplasm. [housing all that protoplasm and the "little organs"]. There you have it. Nucleus (headquarters) and Cytoplasm (factory) structured by those membranes. Might add, what a hoot!

A quote for Labor Day Weekend

         A fellow form some years past gave his thoughts:

                                      "Pray and labor"    ST. BENEDICT ca. 547 A.D.

Separation

         Now in all those cell's functioning plasma on the inside [ 75 - 100 trillion of them] must be separated from all those functioning elements on the outside. Then, all those functioning gadgets on the inside need to separate from one another on the inside.  Inside ... Outside ... who's to decide? Seems ... it is the membranes that decide. Who would have guessed of such a thing?

        Membranes you say?  What in the world? Well, you certainly would not guess it's mostly FATS!  Fatty acids most formally called lipids.  Start with good old atom C (carbon) and pick-up two H (hydrogen) atoms along the way and, pop-bead them on for as long as your beads will hold. Long, long chains of carbon and hydrogen formed into a row to form hydrocarbons. Structural lipids they are called in this three-dimensional world of plasma. [depth, length, width]!

        For those who want to know. First and strongest, is the cell membrane. Then others inside the cell are the mitochondria membrane, endoplasmic recticulum membrane, lysosomes membrane, Golgi apparatus membrane, and the winner is the nuclear membrane.  Lots of names and all with their own functions! Still, there are others floating about all the plasma! What a hoot!

        The following reference gives a text for all those functions around and within the cells. All 75 to 100 trillion cells functioning together as a whole. There must be a quadrillion chemical reactions active at any one time in this biological structure!

        Spent many a day in this biochemical text in my many learning curve days.

McGilvery, R.W., Biochemistry a functional approach, W.B, Saunders Company, Philadelphia, 1970.

P.S. It contains one of my favorite quotes, "A book is a mirror: if an ass looks in, no apostle will look out". Inside cover pape.

In The Neighborhood

         How many other elements (atoms) join with carbon to make-up the organic neighborhood? Let's see now, capital letters tag each atom housed in the periodic table but, only a few other elements live directly with that old capital "C" #6. (Each capital letter stands for the first spelling of the atom named. For all the guys involved see post "The Names" of August 10th.)

        Anyway, a few different folks indeed! Capital "H", for Hydrogen - #1, is the most numerous of the neighbors. Capitol "O" stands for Oxygen - #8, which we certainly could not do without! Then there is Capital "N" for Nitrogen -#7. 

        So, there you have the "Organic" neighborhood holding life in its bare hands. Although several other elements also live nearby with a relatively small amount of Capital "S" for Sulfur - #16 and Capital "P" for Phosphate - #15. It is this Capital P that is really the fire breathing dragon that keeps the fires burn 'in around all the neighborhood! Just a visual reminder for all those elements in that neatly packed table of rows and columns:

        Now you can H.O.N.C your horn as you drive around the organic neighborhood. See if you can find each of the elements described "organic" and their locations shown in the scan above?

P.S. Scan taken from page 22 of my chemistry book shown post of August 7, titled "parts is parts".