By Victoria Coronado Claudio Chai The Golgi Body By Victoria Coronado Claudio Chai

History and Fun Facts The Golgi body was discovered by the Italian scientist Camillo Golgi in 1897 and was shortly named after him. This is the only cell organelle to be named after a scientist. He was testing out his new method of staining nerve cells. After staining, he looked at stained samples under a microscope when he discovered the Golgi body. The Golgi body was not fully accepted with a seal of approval until 1954.

Location and Structure The Golgi body floats in the cytoplasm of both animal and plant cells near the rough ER. The Golgi body is composed of cisternae sacs which usually have 2-60 sacs. In mammal cells, it is common for there to be between 40 to 100 sacs. The Golgi body has a cis face (entry) where macromolecules enter and a trans face (exit) where macromolecules are ejected.

Function The purpose of the Golgi body is to gather macromolecules like proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates to modify them so they can be more useable in other parts of the cell. The Golgi body is placed closely to the rough ER because the ER produces fresh proteins constantly, therefore it is more efficient to have them working next to each other.

The Golgi body absorbs macromolecules through the cis face and then “un-packages” them by removing the vesicle. The macromolecules are then modified from being a simple molecule into a more complex molecule with the help of different enzymes. The cisternae each contain different enzymes to modify the simple molecules that arrive. After the macromolecules are modified, they are “re-packaged” in vesicles which are then ejected out of the trans face towards 3 different locations. Processing

Where do they go? The modified molecules are sent to: The Lysosomes and carry digestive enzymes to help with digestion The outside the cell for purposes like balancing sugar levels The cell membrane to provide proteins for repair and replacement