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Course: MCAT > Unit 6
Lesson 4: Eukaryotic cellsLysosomes and peroxisomes
Lysosomes, the cell's recycling centers, use acid hydrolases to break down waste into reusable parts through autophagy and crinophagy. Peroxisomes protect cells by isolating and breaking down harmful hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen. These organelles ensure efficient and safe cellular function.
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?
- In other words, a polite word for cannibalism is autophagy?(13 votes)
- Can anyone please tell me the role that Lysosome organelles play in cell immunity response? Have I got it right that this is the correct organelle in a mammalian cell for this response please? Thanks(3 votes)
- Here's how:
Phagocytosis begins with the neutrophil or macrophage flowing around the pathogen and engulfing it so that it winds up enclosed in a phagosome (phagocytic vesicle). But this is only the first step, because the more challenging task of destroying the microorganisms remains. Indeed, some pathogens have special, effective mechanisms for frustrating this destruction step. The next step is the fusion of lysosomes with the phagosome. The result is called a phagolysosome. Lysosomes are derived from the Golgi apparatus, much like secretion vesicles, but their contents are focused on destroying microorganisms.
Illustration: http://courses.washington.edu/conj/bloodcells/phagocytosis.htm(8 votes)
- Do peroxisomes act as like an opposite of an enzyme since it breaks them down?(3 votes)
- How do peroxisomes reproduce?(2 votes)
- Im pretty sure peroxisomes dont reproduce like mitochondria (who as a matter of fact have their own DNAs) their synthesis has been programmed by the cell’s DNA itself and therefore, do not reproduce.(3 votes)
- What does she say at3:09? I can't hear it(0 votes)
- She said,
"This acts as a safety mechanism for the cell"
Unless you meant before or after that sentence.
You can also turn on the CC for the video, it's pretty good.(4 votes)
- What determines how many lysosomes or peroxisomes each specific cell has?(1 vote)
- what are the macrophages of the immune system?
And
why do the lysosomes burst?(2 votes)- macrophages are basically white blood cells which with the help of irregularly shaped body squeezes and leakes out of the blood vessel.lysosomes burst whenever (in case of WBC) there is a foreign particle(bacteria or virus) engulphs it the lysosomes burst and destroy the microbe.and normally whenever the cell organells are worn out, they burst and turn them to simpler substances which is later utilized by the cell.it even helps in meta morphosis by detaching the tail of the larva by bursting(0 votes)
- How do crinophagy and Autophagy relate to this?(1 vote)
- what is peroxisomes(1 vote)
- Do plant cells have lysosomes?I've seen many different answers,A)No,but they have spherosomes,vacuoles,etc,whose functions are simillar to lysosomes'.B)Yes.
C)Yes,but the cells of higher plants don't.
I'm getting quite confused.So may I ask what the accuate answer is?(1 vote)
Video transcript
- [Voiceover] Lysosomes are membrane-bound organelles that are found in a cell. What do they do? Well, if you look at the word "lysosome", you can see the root "lys",
which means to "cut or digest." So, lysosomes digest various
molecules and substances. We can break this down into
two different processes. The first is "Autophagy" and the second is "Crinophagy". Autophagy literally means "self-eating". So, autophagy is when the
lysosomes digest molecules that are part of the cell
itself, or other cells. So, for example, if there
are organelles in the cell that are no longer functional, they will be digested by the lysosomes. So, if there are some
mitochondria or other organelles floating around that are old
and not functioning properly, the lysosomes will break them down. Another example of autophagy, would be the macrophages
of the immune system. So, macrophages of the
immune system will engulf bacteria and viruses,
and then they will go to the lysosomes and be
broken-down over there. Let"s focus on Crinophagy. Crinophagy is when the lysosomes digest excess secretory products. So let"s say, for example,
a certain cell is producing a hormone to be secreted and the cell, for some reason, produced
some extra of that hormone. All the extra hormones will be
broken down by the lysosomes. In both Autophagy and Crinophagy, after the lysosome finishes
breaking down the molecules, it will release into the cytoplasm, the building blocks that have just formed. It didn"t exactly form
those building blocks, but it broke the molecules
down into their most basic, basic parts, and those basic parts will be put into the cytoplasm and be reused. So, for example, let"s say
the lysosomes digested some extra hormones that were lying around, and those hormones were
made up of proteins. They will break those proteins down into the individual amino acids and then those amino
acids will be released into the cytoplasm, and they"ll
be used for something else. What"s the environment
like in the lysosomes? The enzymes in the lysosomes
are known as "acid hydrolases". They"re known as acid hydrolases because they require an acidic environment in order to work properly. So the pH inside a lysosome
will be approximately five. This acts as a safety
mechanism for the cell. How so? Let"s take a look at the
lysosome right here, on bottom. Let"s say for some reason,
it burst and released into the cytoplasm,
all the acid hydrolases that we just learned are
capable of digesting organelles. We said in order for
them to work properly, they need to be in an acidic environment, but the cytoplasm has a
pH of approximately 7.4. Therefore, these acid hydrolases are not going to function properly. You might say "Well,
when the lysosome bursts, "doesn"t it release some
acid into the cytoplasm?" That"s true, however, it"s still going to be a pretty small amount
and it"ll get diluted in the cytocell, and the
cytoplasm will still remain, overall, at a pH of about 7.4. However, if many lysosomes
burst at the same time, it would release a larger amount
of acid into the cytoplasm. Then the cytoplasm might
actually become more acidic and the acid hydrolases
will start to work, and will start to digest
the various organelles. This, generally speaking, would not be a good thing for the cell. Let"s talk about another
membrane-bound organelle that"s pretty similar to lysosomes. They"re known as "Peroxisomes". Peroxisomes are responsible for a variety of metabolic activities. In some cells they"re
essential for lipid break down. They help liver cells
detoxify chemicals and drugs. We"re gonna focus on one important
task that they carry out. Let"s zoom in on one peroxisome. Here it is. So what do they do? Well, there are various enzymes in a cell, that as a result of their activity, they produce a by-product,
hydrogen peroxide, which looks like this. Hydrogen peroxide happens
to be pretty dangerous for the cell, so what
peroxisomes will do is, they"re going to isolate
it so the hydrogen peroxide ends up in the peroxisome. Each peroxisome has an
enzyme known as "catalase". This enzyme is able to break
down hydrogen peroxide. Let"s write out the reaction. Hydrogen peroxide in the
presence of the enzyme catalase, will become water and oxygen. I"m just gonna put 1/2 there
to keep the ratio correct. So, peroxisomes protect the
cell from the damaging effects of hydrogen peroxide by isolating it, and by then breaking it
down into water and oxygen.