Question

How do organelles help cells survive?

Answer 1

Organelles are structures, present inside the cell. They have one or more specific types of functions that they need to perform, just like the organs inside our body. There are different types of organelle that are found in a cell based on whether it’s a prokaryotic cell or a eukaryotic cell.

Complete answer:
There are mainly two types of cells that can be observed in nature. These are – Prokaryotic cells and Eukaryotic cells.
Prokaryotic cells are the primitive cells which are present in bacteria commonly and they lack many organelles like nucleus and nucleolus and membrane bound organelles.
They move with the help of organs like cilia or flagella.
These cells may contain genetic material just scattered around in cytoplasm, the mitochondria, ribosomes, lysosomes, vacuoles, etc.
The second type of cell is Eukaryotic cell. These cells are present in highly evolved organisms like plants and animals.
These cells may or may not have a cell wall. The organelles in these cells are bound with a cell membrane.
Plant cells are a little different from the animal cells as they contain chloroplasts which are used by the plant to make their own food. Their cell shape is square and they have a cell wall and a big vacuole.
Whereas animal cells lack a cell wall and their cell is circular in shape. They do not have chloroplasts as they do not make their own food.

The main organelle of a cell are,
-Nucleus: Contains the genetic material of the cell and directs every organelle for their respective activities. It’s the most important part of the cell.
-Cytoplasm: It is the gel-like substance that covers the area inside the cell. It helps in shaping the cell as well as supporting the structure of a cell. It contains many different types of chemicals that are imported from outside the cell that other organelles require.
-Cell Membrane: It supports the shape of a cell and also selectively passes materials from outside of the cell to the inside. Also helps in secretion of waste products like carbon dioxide and it is composed of lipid bi-layer.
-Mitochondria: These are the powerhouse of the cell. They help in supplying energy to the cell.
Ribosomes- They help in constructing protein and they are found inside the nucleolus which is inside the nucleus. They are also found scattered in the cytoplasm or attached to the endoplasmic reticulum in the cell.
-Golgi Bodies: They are like a stack of membranes and they help in packaging of proteins to send them out of the cell at their destination.
-Lysosomes: They help in digestion of waste material that is present inside the cell and sometimes also help in destroying the genetic material of a foreign virus or bacteria.
-Cell Wall: Present in plant cells. It helps in preventing the bursting of cells as the cells take up water and also maintain the shape of the cell.
-Vacuole: It is like a storage bag present in the cell and helps in storage of food, waste or water in it. The water inside the vacuole is used for photosynthesis to make food.
-Chloroplast: The cells where processing of plant food takes place. They are present on leaves commonly but can be present on stems or roots or flowers as well in some cases.
So this is the reason, the cell needs various types of organelles to maintain the functioning of the cell.

Note: The division of labor inside a cell into different organelle is really important so as to create a microenvironment for each organelle so that they can maximize their functioning. Each organelle is needed by a cell to perform different types of function and to keep the cell alive. If any one of the organelle fails to work, this might lead to death of the cell.