Cytoplasm
hideThe cytoplasm is the part of a cell that is enclosed within the plasma membrane. In eukaryotic cells, the cytoplasm contains organelles, such as mitochondria, which are filled with liquid that is kept separate from the rest of the cytoplasm by biological membranes. The contents of the cell nucleus are not part of the cytoplasm and are instead called the nucleoplasm. The cytoplasm is the site where most cellular activities occur, such as many metabolic pathways like glycolysis, and processes such as cell division. The inner, granular mass is called the endoplasm and the outer, clear and glassy layer is called the cell cortex or the ectoplasm.
The part of the cytoplasm that is not held within organelles is called the cytosol. The cytosol is a complex mixture of cytoskeleton filaments, dissolved molecules, and water that fills much of the volume of a cell. The cytosol is a gel, with a network of fibers dispersed through water. Due to this network of pores and high concentrations of dissolved macromolecules, such as proteins, an effect called macromolecular crowding occurs and the cytosol does not act as an ideal solution. This crowding effect alters how the components of the cytosol interact with each other.
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News tagged with cytoplasm
Researchers identify new, cancer-causing role for protein
Aug 27, 2009 |
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The mainstay immune system protein TRAF6 plays an unexpected, key role activating a cell signaling molecule that in mutant form is associated with cancer growth, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. ...
New technique could eliminate inherited mitochondrial disease
Aug 26, 2009 |
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Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed an experimental technique with the potential to prevent a class of hereditary disorders passed on from mother to child. The technique, as yet conducted ...
Scientists learn why some drugs pack such a punch
Aug 20, 2009 |
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By studying the intricate mechanisms at work in protein production, a Princeton-led team has discovered why certain kinds of antibiotics are so effective. In doing so, they also have discovered how one protein ...
Viral mimic induces melanoma cells to digest themselves
Aug 03, 2009 |
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Recent research has uncovered an unexpected vulnerability in deadly melanoma cells that, when exploited, can cause the cancer cells to turn against themselves. The study, published by Cell Press in the August issue of the ...
Got zinc? New zinc research suggests novel therapeutic targets
Jul 30, 2009 |
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Everyone knows that vitamins "from A to zinc" are important for good health. Now, a new research study in the August 2009 print issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that zinc may be pointing the way to new th ...
Scientists provide important insight into apoptosis or programmed cell death
Jul 14, 2009 |
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A study by Nanyang Technological University (NTU)'s Assistant Professor Li Hoi Yeung, Assistant Professor Koh Cheng Gee and their team have made an important contribution to the understanding of the process that cells go ...
Sugarcoating fruit fly development
May 29, 2009 |
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Proteins are the executive agents that carry out all processes in a cell. Their activity is controlled and modified with the help of small chemical tags that can be dynamically added to and removed from the protein. 25 years ...
Viruses are sneakier than we thought
May 27, 2009 |
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Viruses are molecular marauders, plundering cells for the resources they need to multiply. Of central importance for viruses is the ability to commandeer cellular gene expression machinery. Several human herpesviruses put ...
Nanoneedle is small in size, but huge in applications
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Apr 28, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a membrane-penetrating nanoneedle for the targeted delivery of one or more molecules into the cytoplasm or the nucleus of living cells. ...
New study overturns orthodoxy on how macrophages kill bacteria
Apr 27, 2009 |
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For decades, microbiologists assumed that macrophages, immune cells that can engulf and poison bacteria and other pathogens, killed microbes by damaging their DNA. A new study from the University of Illinois ...
Molecular machine turns packaged messenger RNA into a linear transcript
Biology /
Feb 11, 2009 |
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For RNA, the gateway to a productive life outside the nucleus is the nuclear pore complex, an amalgamation of 30 kinds of proteins that regulates all traffic passing through the nuclear membrane. New research from Rockefeller ...
The breakdown of barriers in old cells may hold clues to aging process
Biology /
Jan 22, 2009 |
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Like guards controlling access to a gated community, nuclear pore complexes are communication channels that regulate the passage of proteins and RNA to and from a cell's nucleus. Recent studies by researchers ...
Mutant host cell protein sequesters critical HIV-1 element
Medicine & Health / HIV & AIDS
Jan 15, 2009 |
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Scientists have identified a new way to inhibit a molecule that is critical for HIV pathogenesis. The research, published by Cell Press in the January 16th issue of the journal Molecular Cell, presents a target for develo ...
