What is the Golgi complex?
Q: What is the Golgi complex?
A: The Golgi complex, also known as the Golgi apparatus or simply the Golgi, is a cytoplasmic organelle found in eukaryote cells such as animals, plants, and fungi.
Q: Who discovered the Golgi complex?
A: The complex was discovered by Camillo Golgi in 1898.
Q: What does it look like?
A: It is made of several flattened sac-like membranes which look like a stack of pancakes.
Q: What is its main function?
A: The main function of the Golgi apparatus is to process and package macromolecules, such as proteins and lipids.
Q: How does it process proteins for secretion?
A: Much of the enzymatic processing is post-translational modification of proteins. The Golgi complex inspects them for flaws and discards extra material added during their manufacture, wraps them up and then targets them for packaging. It also releases special enzymes called lysosomes which clean off any extra amino acids before they are released into the cytoplasm.
Q: How does it relate to other cellular membrane systems?
A: The Golgi complex is part of the cellular membrane system, along with the endoplasmic reticulum.
