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Course: MCAT > Unit 7
Lesson 4: Eukaryotic cellsEndoplasmic reticulum and golgi apparatus
The endoplasmic reticulum, an organelle budding off the cell nucleus, plays a crucial role in protein synthesis and lipid metabolism. It's divided into two parts: the ribosome-studded rough endoplasmic reticulum, where protein synthesis occurs, and the smooth endoplasmic reticulum, responsible for lipid synthesis and detoxification. Proteins synthesized here follow the secretory pathway, moving through the Golgi apparatus to their final destinations.
Visit us (http://www.khanacademy.org/science/healthcare-and-medicine) for health and medicine content or (http://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat) for MCAT related content. These videos do not provide medical advice and are for informational purposes only. The videos are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read or seen in any Khan Academy video. Created by Efrat Bruck.
Visit us (http://www.khanacademy.org/science/healthcare-and-medicine) for health and medicine content or (http://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat) for MCAT related content. These videos do not provide medical advice and are for informational purposes only. The videos are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read or seen in any Khan Academy video. Created by Efrat Bruck.
Want to join the conversation?
- Why do proteins travel from the Golgi apparatus to the lysosomes? Why would proteins that were just created in the RER travel to an organelle designed to destroy them?(21 votes)
- It's because the lysosome contains digestive enzymes, which are protein. So the Golgi is sending the proteins that the lysosome needs in order to function.(23 votes)
- Potential silly question: How does the protein vesicle that "butts off" the R.E.R. actually get to the Golgi apparatus? Momentum? Inertia?
Thank you(5 votes)- I think the cytoskeleton (primarily microtubules if I'm not mistake) help the vesicles move along with transport proteins the "walk" the vesicles along the microtubule system.(12 votes)
- What are integral proteins?(2 votes)
- Integral Proteins are proteins that are permanently attached / integrated into the cell membrane. Transmembrane Proteins are a good example of these.(7 votes)
- if vesicles keep merging with the cell membrane, wont the size of the cell in general keep on increasing?(3 votes)
- Retrograde and Retrograde transport, as well as endocytosis and exocytosis all contributed to and regulate membrane size. I'm sure there's a regulatory mechanism in place.(3 votes)
- What is the signal sequence for proteins to be secreted outside of the cell. Is it a series of amino acids? I am trying to make a connection between transcription of the nucleotides and translation to proteins for these proteins to be secreted.(1 vote)
- It's a signal sequence of amino acids at the N-terminus of the polypeptide as it's being translated from mRNA that targets that protein to go into the ER and go down the secretory pathway.
In the video, she talks about this at about4:30.(4 votes)
- What is the difference between Golgi body,Golgi apparatus and Golgi complex?(1 vote)
- They're the same things, just different names.(1 vote)
- What does synthesis lipids mean?(2 votes)
- I noticed that the smooth ER has what appears to be opposite functions: it synthesizes lipids and plays a role in the detoxification of the cell. Are there any other organelles that have seemingly conflicting functions?(2 votes)
- So both the RER and the SER create proteins that are secreted from the cell? Is there any further difference? Because in my lecture it was only mentioned that the RER synthesizes proteins that are secreted from the cell so im kind of confused.(0 votes)
- The SER does not make proteins. It is more involved in lipid synthesis, detoxification, carbs metabolism. RER synthesizes proteins.(3 votes)
- what is the Golgi apparatus(1 vote)
- You can find the answer to that in4:53..Efrat explains what it is. :)(2 votes)
Video transcript
- [Voiceover] The endoplasmic reticulum is an organelle in the cell
that butts off of the nucleus. So, let's say that this
is the nucleus of a cell. It has a nuclear envelope, which is a double membrane structure. And this is the endoplasmic reticulum. Notice that the space
in the nuclear envelope is continuous with the lumen, or space, of the endoplasmic reticulum. So, what does the
endoplasmic reticulum do? Well, the endoplasmic reticulum actually has two parts to it. It has one part that's known as the rough endoplasmic reticulum. And that has a bunch of ribosomes, those are the purple dots that you see. And then, the endoplasmic
reticulum has a smooth part. That part does not have any ribosomes. Let's start with the smooth
endoplasmic reticulum first. So, what does it do? The smooth endoplasmic
reticulum synthesizes lipids... Including those that will end up being part of the cell membrane. And those that are secreted from the cell. For example, steroid hormones. The smooth endoplasmic reticulum also metabolizes carbohydrates. And it also aids in the detoxification of drugs and other toxins. Let's go to the rough
endoplasmic reticulum. So, the rough endoplasmic
reticulum, as we mentioned, has ribosomes, which means it's the site of protein synthesis. But, we know that there are also ribosomes that are in the cytoplasm, so, what's the difference
between those proteins that are translated in the cytoplasm, and those that are translated in the rough endoplasmic reticulum? So, let's split protein
synthesis into two. We have those... That are made in the cytoplasm and those that are synthesized in the
rough endoplasmic reticulum. So, proteins that are
synthesized in the cytoplasm will end up in a number of places. They might end up in the nucleus. They might end up in mitochondria, which, I'm just gonna
abbreviate like that. They might end up in peroxisomes. Or, they might just stay in the cytoplasm. Maybe that's where they belong. In contrast, proteins that are synthesized in the rough endoplasmic reticulum will either be secreted into the extracellular environment... Or, they will end up
becoming into raw proteins. In the cell membrane. Or, they might remain in
the endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, or lysosomes. And you'll see in a few moments why I'm grouping these
three organelles together. And I just wanna mention as a side point that another thing that happens in the rough endoplasmic reticulum is post-translational
modifications of proteins. For example, the formation of
disulfide bridges in proteins, that happens in the rough
endoplasmic reticulum. Okay, let's go back to
the protein synthesis that happens in the rough
endoplasmic reticulum. So, proteins that are
secreted from the cell, or that become part of the cell membrane, follow what we call the secretory pathway. The secretory pathway describes
the pathway a protein takes from when it's synthesized
until it leaves the cell or becomes part of a cell membrane. But, you might be thinking,
how does a protein, quote, unquote, know
that it's supposed to be following the secretory pathway, and therefore, that it
should be synthesized in the rough endoplasmic reticulum as opposed to the cytoplasm? So, the answer to that question is that old proteins begin to be
translated in the cytoplasm. But, those that need to
follow the secretory pathway have what's called a signal sequence. That signal sequence is
detected early on in translation and will cause the polypeptide
that's being synthesized to be pushed in to the
rough endoplasmic reticulum where translation is completed. In order for us to understand
the secretory pathway, we need to talk about another organelle. That organelle is the Golgi apparatus. The Golgi apparatus is
an organelle that's found near the endoplasmic reticulum. And it's basically a group of sacks that are stacked together. What happens in the Golgi apparatus? So, the Golgi apparatus, number one, modifies proteins that are made in the rough endoplasmic reticulum. Number two, the Golgi apparatus sorts and sends proteins to
their proper destinations. And number three, the Golgi apparatus synthesizes certain molecules that need to be secreted from the cell. So, let's take a look at a protein that was synthesized in the
rough endoplasmic reticulum, let's say that this part
had a couple of ribosomes and there was a protein made. Let's say this is the protein. So, what will happen to it? So, this protein has to end up either at the lysosome
or outside of the cell, or as a protein that's
part of a cell membrane. So, it'll butt off in a vesicle. Here's a vesicle butting off
the endoplasmic reticulum. Of course, the protein is inside of it. And that vesicle will merge
with the Golgi apparatus, and the protein will end up
inside the Golgi apparatus. And this part of the Golgi apparatus is known as the cis stack. The cis stack is the part that's closest to the endoplasmic reticulum. Now, this protein that's
in the Golgi apparatus will undergo modifications. It'll get transferred to the middle part of the Golgi apparatus. The middle part is known
as the medial stack. In the medial stack,
it'll also be modified in different ways, and then,
it'll eventually land up in this part of the Golgi apparatus. This part is known as the trans stack. The trans stack is the
part that's furthest away from the endoplasmic reticulum. And from the trans stack, a
vesicle will kind of butt off and that vesicle will be
holding the protein in it. And from here, this
protein can take a couple of different paths. One thing that might happen to it is maybe it's destined to
land up in the lysosome. So, let's say this is a lysosome. So, in this case, the vesicle will move towards the lysosome, merge with it, and land up in the lysosome. I'm gonna digress for just a moment. If you recall earlier, I grouped together the endoplasmic reticulum
with the Golgi apparatus, with the lysosomes, and I'm gonna add one more organelle to this
group, the cell membrane. And the reason that I grouped
all these organelles together is that they're all part
of the secretory pathway. Take a look at the protein
we just spoke about. It was made in the endoplasmic reticulum where a vesicle butted off, then, the protein landed up
in the Golgi apparatus, and then, another vesicle popped off and the protein ended up in the lysosome. So, all of these organelles have ways of transferring proteins between them. Let's say the protein we mentioned was not supposed to go to the lysosome. Maybe it was supposed to go
to be secreted from the cell, or maybe, it's supposed
to become a protein, that's part of the cell membrane, so, let's butt off another two vesicles. Let's say that this vesicle has in it proteins that need to be
secreted from the cell. And let's say this vesicle
has, on its membrane, a protein that needs to end up on the membrane of this cell. Let's see what happens
to these two vesicles. So, here is the vesicle with the proteins that need to be secreted. And here's the vesicle with the protein that needs to end up in the cell membrane. So, what'll happen is
the vesicle will move toward the cell membrane, merge with it, and release the protein. The same will happen
with the other vesicle, it'll move towards the cell membrane, merge with it, and that
protein will end up embedded in the membrane of the cell. And, of course, at some
point, these indentations will flatten out and the cell membrane will go back to its original shape.