Cell Organelle Study Guide
1. List the organelles found ONLY in plant cells. Describe a key fact about it, how it operates, and
provide an analogy for each in the space below.
6
Key fact about it
How it operates
Analogy
Cell wall is to cell as
Cell Wall
Made of cellulose,
Keeps the cell rigid,
cell phone case is to
very tough
keeps some bad stuff cell phone, or wall in
out
classroom is to the
classroom
Chloroplast
It’s where
photosynthesis
happens
Takes sunlight, and
chlorophyll, to turn
H2O and CO2 into
glucose for the
plant, Oxygen as a
waste.
Chloroplast is to cell
as pollen is to honey,
or as solar charger is
to solar calculator.
2. List eight other organelles of a cell, to include a key fact, how it operates, and an analogy.
Organelle name
Key fact
How it operates
Analogy
Made of lipids and
Lets some stuff in, so Membrane is to cell
Cell membrane
proteins, so it has
it’s semi-permeable. as skin is to human
some openings or
body.
pores.
Vacuole
Nucleus
Nucleolus
It’s basically just a
membrane that can
stretch big time,
waiting for
something it can
store.
Big time water
storage for plants,
can also store food
and waste.
Vacuole is to cell as
refrigerator is to
house.
Controls cell
operations, and
contains all the
genetic information
for the entire
organism
Has DNA which is
the key for its
operations and
heredity.
Nucleus is to cell as
brain is to human.
Is found inside the
nucleus, processes
amino acids.
Makes and sends
out the two parts
that make up a
ribosome.
Nucleolus is to cell as
butcher is to meat
department of a
grocery store.
Organelle
Ribosome
Endoplasmic
reticulum
Golgi Complex
Lysosome
Mitochondria
Key fact
It’s the protein
maker of the cell
How it functions
Takes amino acids
and assembles into
one of over twenty
proteins
Analogy
Ribosome is to cell as
meat department is
to grocery story
Has two versions,
one to hold the
ribosomes, the
smooth one to make
lipids for cell
membranes.
Makes and sends
stuff (proteins and
lipids) for sending
INSIDE the cell.
Endoplasmic
Reticulum is to cell
as lunch cart is to
patient in hospital
Key in sending
things, especially
amino acids or
proteins, outside the
cell for other cells.
Packages stuff in
membranes and
then sends them
outside the cell.
Golgi is to cell as UPS
is to community.
Needed to dispose of
wastes and fight off
invaders.
Uses enzymes to
break down other
stuff
Lysosome is to cell as
ray gun is to alien.
The one place where
energy is the result,
LOTS of them in
muscles
Takes in glucose,
combines it with
oxygen, and energy
or ATP is the result,
with CO2 waste.
Mitochondria is to
cell as sugar rush is
to my brain, or as
gasoline is to a car.
3. Complete the drawings for a plant cell and an animal cell below, and show all the organelles.
4. Be ready for a question calling for thought, such as the following: Melanin is what makes your
eyes brown, or makes your skin dark. And what makes the melanin is a particular amino acid
(protein) called tryosine. Your job is to describe the journey of tyrosine from within a baby’s
cells to the newly formed eyes. Use a separate sheet of paper, and be sure to show what
organelle is probably performing a task to either make the tyrosine or send it on its way.
The journey begins in a ribosome attached to a rough endoplasmic reticulum. There the ribosome
takes some molecules and packs them together to produce the amino acid tyrosine. The tyrosine is
then sent to the Golgi Complex, which sort of shrink wraps it in a membrane, and sends out of the cell
membrane, with the zip code for a baby’s eyes about to be built. The tyrosine package comes up to
the eye in progress, and basically says “knock, knock”, “Who’s there, we could use something to let us
know what color to make this baby’s eyes.” Out comes the tyrosine, and quickly the eyes get a dose of
the melanin so that the baby has brown eyes.