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A lysosome (/ ˈ l aɪ s ə ˌ s oʊ m /) is a single membrane-bound organelle found in many animal cells. [1] [2] They are spherical vesicles that contain hydrolytic enzymes that digest many kinds of biomolecules. A lysosome has a specific composition, of both its membrane proteins and its lumenal proteins.
However, to obtain energy from its outside environment, cells must not only retrieve molecules from their surroundings but also break them down. [1] This process is known as intracellular digestion. [1] In its broadest sense, intracellular digestion is the breakdown of substances within the cytoplasm of a cell.
Endocytosis is a cellular process in which substances are brought into the cell. The material to be internalized is surrounded by an area of cell membrane, which then buds off inside the cell to form a vesicle containing the ingested materials. Endocytosis includes pinocytosis (cell drinking) and phagocytosis (cell eating). It is a form of ...
Through this process, sugars, amino acids, and other monomers pass into the cytosol and become nutrients for the cell. Lysosomes also use their hydrolytic enzymes to recycle the cell's obsolete organelles in a process called autophagy. The lysosome engulfs another organelle and uses its enzymes to take apart the ingested material.
Food can be taken from outside the cell into food vacuoles by a process called endocytosis. These food vacuoles fuse with lysosomes which break down the components so that they can be used in the cell. This form of cellular eating is called phagocytosis. Lysosomes are also used to destroy defective or damaged organelles in a process called ...
For example, in epithelial cells, a special process called transcytosis allows some materials to enter one side of a cell and exit from the opposite side. Also, in some circumstances, late endosomes/MVBs fuse with the plasma membrane instead of with lysosomes, releasing the lumenal vesicles, now called exosomes, into the extracellular medium.
The lysosome is commonly referred to as the cell's recycling center because it processes unwanted material into substances that the cell can use. Lysosomes break down this unwanted matter by enzymes, highly specialized proteins essential for survival. Lysosomal disorders are usually triggered when a particular enzyme exists in too small an ...
Due to the unique function of lysozyme in which it can digest the cell wall and causes osmotic shock (burst the cell by suddenly changing solute concentration around the cell and thus the osmotic pressure), lysozyme is commonly used in lab setting to release proteins from bacterium periplasm while the inner membrane remains sealed as vesicles ...