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Big Animal Cell Foldable – Answer Key
What you expect your students to produce will depend on their grade level and their academic level.
The detailed information provided in the answer key is to give you a more thorough understanding
about this topic. You most likely do not require your students to know all the details, so for your ease
of use, highlight which details you would like students to know and use these to guide your lessons.
Note: Structures with an asterisk * next to it are not found in plant cells.
Structure
1. peroxisome
Function
 contain enzymes that are responsible for the catabolism (breakdown) of fatty
acids into carbohydrates.
(This function is especially important to plant germination when stored fats in a
seed are converted into carbohydrates to provide energy needed for kickstarting and maintaining germination.)
2. * cilium
 unicellular: locomotion to transport the organism.
 multicellular organisms: cilia wave back and forth to move substances as
well.
(For example, the cells lining the respiratory tract of trachea contain ciliated cells
that help move mucus and trapped particles upwards toward the throat where
they can be swallowed.)
3. * centriole
* Microtubules found in pairs within animal cells located at right angles to one
another; a cloud of threadlike proteins and centriole form centrosome.
(The centrosome is the microtubule organizing center (MTOC) and it helps
direct the formation of spindle fibers and the spindle apparatus during mitosis
and meiosis.)
4. * lysosome
*contains digestive enzymes to 1) digest food 2) break down and recycle old
organelles, 3) engulf and destroy viruses and bacteria and 4) perform autolysis
(which means to initiate breakdown of cell itself).
Lysosomes are made by Golgi.
(For example, many white blood cells engulf numerous bacteria and instead of
using lysosomes to kill each one individually, the lysosomes release their digestive
enzymes into the cytoplasm to cause the cell to autolyse. This kills the cell but
also all of the bacteria within. This is an efficient way to destroy a lot of invading
microbes. The resulting cellular debris is called pus.)
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5. cell / plasma
membrane
6. cytoplasm
 semipermeable membrane that surrounds cytoplasm; separates interior from
the external environment; allows for selective traffic of substances into and
out of cell.
 between cell membrane and nucleus; contains cytosol (liquid and dissolved
contents) as well as all organelles (minus nucleus). Metabolism and
specialized functions of cell are carried out here.
7. mitochondrion 
“power-house” of cell, responsible for creating cellular energy through the
synthesis of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) through aerobic cellular respiration
C6H12O6 + 6O2  6H2O + 6CO2
 have double membrane, singular circular strand of DNA, their own
ribosomes; they can self-replicate.
(Endosymbiotic theory (or symbiogenesis) proposes that mitochondria in
eukaryotes have prokaryotic origins. They arose when free-living
proteobacteria were engulfed and survived inside of other cells to form
endosymbionts around 1.5 million years ago.)
 called “smooth” because it lacks ribosomes; function to synthesize and
8. smooth
store lipids and steroids.
endoplasmic
reticulum (SER) (cisternae of SER look more tubular than sac-like.)
 long whip-like structure that extends from cell surface; used to propel an
9. * flagellum
organism forward through liquid medium. May be one flagellum or many
Some plant male
flagella.
gametes have this.
 network of fibrous, interconnected proteins; functions as cellular scaffold
10. cytoskeleton
to position, secure and move organelles around cell; helps give cell shape;
provides structural supports for cytoplasm
 made of microfilaments, microtubules and intermediate filaments.
11. nuclear pores
12. nuclear
membrane /
envelope
 channels through the nuclear membrane; allow substances to be
transported in/out of nucleus
 large enough to allow mRNA and ribosomal units to leave nucleus
 keep DNA strands inside
 allows proteins and molecules from cytoplasm into nucleus.
 semipermeable double membrane (has two lipid bilayers) that surrounds and
protects nuclear contents.
 controls substances in/out of nucleus
 contains nuclear pores.
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13. DNA
14. nucleolus
15. nucleus
16. rough
endoplasmic
reticulum
(RER)
17. ribosomes
18. Golgi body
19. Golgi vesicles
 in nucleus coiled around proteins called histones.
 proteins + DNA form long strands called chromatin (when condensed form
chromosomes).
 contains segments called genes that code for all genetic traits of each
organism.
 much of DNA is non-coding but may control gene expression.
 dense section within nucleus for ribosome synthesis and assembly
 forms protein subunits to make ribosomes as well as rRNA (ribosomal RNA)

“control center” of cell
1) stores and protects DNA (genetic information)
2) site of ribosomal assembly (in nucleolus)
3) RNA synthesis.
 called “rough” because ribosomes are embedded on membrane surface.
(protein products inside)
 forms vesicles that contain protein products, sends vesicles to Golgi for
further processing.
 found continuous with and extending from surface nuclear envelope;
facilitates transport of mRNA from nucleus to ribosomes of RER for protein
synthesis.
 organelles responsible for protein synthesis through a process called
translation. They decode mRNA (which directs which amino acids are
assembled in which order) and assemble proteins according to code on mRNA.
 Ribosomes found either freely floating in cytoplasm or bound to RER
 Ribosomes are not membrane bound organelles; disassemble into two
smaller protein subunits when not translating mRNA.
 group of membrane sacs shaped like stack of pancakes.
 work closely with RER to process and package molecules (mostly proteins)
 ships molecules throughout cell and outside of cell using vesicles.
 small membrane bound organelles that originate from the Golgi when
membrane of Golgi pinches off. Vesicles contain and transport substances
(enzymes and other molecules that were synthesized and moved through ER
to Golgi) throughout cell.
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Created by Anh-Thi Tang – Tangstar Science
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