Cell Biology Jeopardy

Often called the powerhouse of the cell, this organelle converts nutrients into usable energy.

What is the mitochondrion?

This network of folded membranes helps build and transport proteins and lipids through the cell.

What is the endoplasmic reticulum?

These small structures, found throughout the cytoplasm, read genetic instructions to build proteins.

What are ribosomes?

This organelle packages and ships proteins to their destinations, often compared to a post office.

What is the Golgi apparatus?

This organelle, filled with digestive enzymes, breaks down waste and worn-out cell parts.

What is a lysosome?

This thin, flexible barrier surrounds the cell and controls what enters and leaves.

What is the cell membrane?

This is the movement of molecules from an area of higher concentration to an area of lower concentration, using no cell energy.

What is diffusion?

This is the specific diffusion of water molecules across a membrane.

What is osmosis?

This type of transport moves substances against their concentration gradient and requires the cell to spend energy.

What is active transport?

This model describes the cell membrane as a flexible double layer of lipids in which proteins can float and shift.

What is the fluid mosaic model?

This rigid outer layer, made of cellulose, surrounds plant cells but is absent in animal cells.

What is the cell wall?

This large, fluid-filled sac stores water and helps a plant cell stay firm; it is much bigger in plant cells than in animal cells.

What is the vacuole?

These green organelles capture sunlight and carry out photosynthesis in plant cells.

What are chloroplasts?

These small organelles, found in animal cells but typically absent in plant cells, help organize fibers during cell division.

What are centrioles?

This term describes an organism, like a plant, whose cells can make their own food using sunlight, unlike an animal.

What is an autotroph?

This process divides a single cell into two identical daughter cells and is used for growth and repair.

What is mitosis?

This process of cell division produces sex cells, or gametes, with half the usual number of chromosomes.

What is meiosis?

This is the phase of the cell cycle when a cell spends most of its time, growing and copying its DNA before dividing.

What is interphase?

During this stage of mitosis, duplicated chromosomes line up along the middle of the cell.

What is metaphase?

This structure of protein fibers pulls duplicated chromosomes apart toward opposite ends of a dividing cell.

What is the spindle apparatus?

This organelle, often called the control center of the cell, houses most of its genetic material.

What is the nucleus?

This molecule, shaped like a twisted ladder, carries the genetic instructions for building and running an organism.

What is DNA?

This twisted-ladder shape of the DNA molecule was described by Watson and Crick in 1953.

What is a double helix?

DNA is tightly coiled around proteins to form these thread-like structures, which become visible during cell division.

What are chromosomes?

This structure inside the nucleus produces ribosomal RNA and helps assemble ribosome parts.

What is the nucleolus?

This tool uses lenses to magnify tiny objects, like cells, so they become visible to the human eye.

What is a microscope?

This type of microscope uses beams of visible light and glass lenses and is common in school science labs.

What is a light microscope?

This type of microscope uses beams of electrons instead of light to achieve much higher magnification.

What is an electron microscope?

This Dutch scientist, often called the father of microbiology, was among the first to observe living microorganisms under a microscope in the 1670s.

Who is Antonie van Leeuwenhoek?

Developed in the 1830s, this theory states that all living things are made of cells, that the cell is the basic unit of life, and that all cells come from existing cells.

What is cell theory?