Question

With the help of examples, show how the shape of a cell depends on the function it performs

Answer 1

Shape of cell depends on the function it performs :-

• Red Blood Cells ( RBC ) -  

  Red blood cells are flat, round and very small, allowing them to easily turn corners with the flow of the blood and fit through the capillaries, the tiniest blood vessels, where oxygen is transferred to body cells.

• Muscle Cells  -

A single muscle cell is elongated in shape, containing within it many myofibrils. These are thin strands made of the proteins actin and myosin that perform muscle contraction. The elongated shape of muscle cells allows the contraction proteins to line up in an overlapping pattern that makes muscle flexing possible. Nuclei and other organelles that are normally within a cell lay at the perimeter of muscle cells, making space for the ordered patterns of the proteins.

• Nerve Cells   -

Neurons have a long, thin structure, allowing for very quick and accurate communication and responses. Length is beneficial to the structure of a neuron because electrical messages within a neuron travel more quickly than the chemical messages between neurons.

• Sperm Cells  -

Sperm cells have  flagella, or whiplike cell extensions. This is because of their need to "swim" long distances to reach an egg for fertilization. Also due to their need to travel, the body of a sperm cell is very light, carrying not much more than the chromosomes containing the DNA for a potential zygote.