Organelle

In cell biology, an organelle is a specialized subunit within a cell that has a specific function. Organelles are either separately enclosed within their own lipid bilayers (also called membrane-bound organelles) or are spatially distinct functional units without a surrounding lipid bilayer (non-membrane bound organelles).(mRNP complexes) In cell biology, an organelle is a specialized subunit within a cell that has a specific function. Organelles are either separately enclosed within their own lipid bilayers (also called membrane-bound organelles) or are spatially distinct functional units without a surrounding lipid bilayer (non-membrane bound organelles). 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. Organelles are identified by microscopy, and can also be purified by cell fractionation. There are many types of organelles, particularly in eukaryotic cells. While prokaryotes do not possess organelles per se, some do contain protein-based bacterial microcompartments, which are thought to act as primitive organelles. In biology organs are defined as confined functional units within an organism. The analogy of bodily organs to microscopic cellular substructures is obvious, as from even early works, authors of respective textbooks rarely elaborate on the distinction between the two. In the 1830s, Félix Dujardin refuted Ehrenberg theory which said that microorganisms have the same organs of multicellular animals, only minor. Credited as the first to use a diminutive of organ (i.e., little organ) for cellular structures was German zoologist Karl August Möbius (1884), who used the term organula (plural of organulum, the diminutive of Latin organum). In a footnote, which was published as a correction in the next issue of the journal, he justified his suggestion to call organs of unicellular organisms 'organella' since they are only differently formed parts of one cell, in contrast to multicellular organs of multicellular organisms. While most cell biologists consider the term organelle to be synonymous with cell compartment, a space often bound by one or two lipid bilayers, some cell biologists choose to limit the term to include only those cell compartments that contain deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), having originated from formerly autonomous microscopic organisms acquired via endosymbiosis. Under this definition, there would only be two broad classes of organelles (i.e. those that contain their own DNA, and have originated from endosymbiotic bacteria): Other organelles are also suggested to have endosymbiotic origins, but do not contain their own DNA (notably the flagellum – see evolution of flagella). A second, less restrictive definition of organelles is that they are membrane-bound structures. However, even by using this definition, some parts of the cell that have been shown to be distinct functional units do not qualify as organelles. Therefore, the use of organelle to also refer to non-membrane bound structures such as ribosomes is common and accepted. This has led many texts to delineate between membrane-bound and non-membrane bound organelles. The non-membrane bound organelles, also called large biomolecular complexes, are large assemblies of macromolecules that carry out particular and specialized functions, but they lack membrane boundaries. Many of these are referred to as 'proteinaceous organelles' as there many structure is made of proteins. Such cell structures include: