Mitochondria And Chloroplast Essay :: essays research papers fc

I. Introduction     Out of all the organelles in that respectare devil that fuddle fascinated microbiologists for the past hundred years. Thefirst is the mitochondria, nicknamed the "powerhouse of the cell." The secondis the chloroplast in plant cells that have functions similar to those of themitochondria. What do these organelles do? What are the similarities and differencesof these organelles? This try will help you to understand these two fascinatingorganelles.II. Mitochondria     Mitochondria are gnomish cytoplasmic organelles.They are five to 10 micrometers long and one to .5 micrometers wide. They chief(prenominal)function is to provide energy for cell activities. They house the respiratoryenzymes that vary oxygen and the products of alter, carbohydrate, and proteinmetabolism into adenosine triphosphate (adenosine triphosphate) and guanosine triphosphate (GTP),chemicals that have high-energy bonds. They are cakehole all draw for a foldedline of matter that contains the ribonucleic acid (RNA) or deoxyribonucleicacid (DNA) of the cell.     Mitochondrion make use of a process cognise as oxidisationto make fat acids and pyruvate acid into (indirectly) ATP and Pi (inorganicphosphate). The process goes as follows1)      Oxidation of pyruvate acidinto acetyl coenzyme A. 2)      Oxidation of fat acids into acetyl coenzyme A.3)     Oxidationof acetyl coenzymes from step one and two into carbon dioxide and NADH2.4)      Oxidationof NADH2 by oxygen forming water.5)      Synthesis of ATP pair to NADH2 oxidationby process of oxidative phosphorylation.Most of this is self explanatoryexcept for the last step (5). The final step contains a phrase "coupled to."This means that the compound (NADH2) must be present and have been oxidatefor the synthesis of ATP, similar to a catalysts p resence of some reactions.     Althoughthe mitochondrions major conclusion is to supply the cell with the much neededATP, it has others. Included in this argument are nitrogen metabolism, porphyrinsynthesis and steroid hormone synthesis.III. Chloroplasts     Chloroplastsare obscure green organelles that occur within the cytoplasm of plant cells.They are the principal(prenominal) sites of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the change oflight energy, CO2 water into sugar which is employ as food. They are disk shapedorganelles and are surrounded by two layers of membrane that enclose the wateryinside or stroma. Inside the stroma there are green dots called grana (grains)that hold chlorophyll.     As with the mitochondrion the Chloroplasts use glador solar energy to make a product. In this slip of paper hexose.1) The pigment complexesin the chloroplasts (including but not limited to chlorophyll) collect    &nb sp solarenergy.2) The light energy gathered in the first step is used to run an electrontransport chain that      oxidizes water into 0xygen. NADP is reduced.3) ATPsynthesis is coupled to the electron transport train.