ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM       ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM is a network of connected membrane tubes.  Reticulum means little net and endoplasmic means inside the cytoplasm.  The endoplasmic reticulum (E.R.) has three major jobs.  It is where certain molecules are synthesized, stored, and transported.  Some endoplasmic reticulum (called smooth, no ribosomes) is where fatty acids, steroids, and lipids are made.  Some E.R., called rough (with ribosomes), is where proteins are made.  After proteins are made in the endoplasmic reticulum they are packaged into little transport bodies called VESICLES.  These shuttle across the cytoplasm to the GOLGI APPARATUS.  Thus the rough E.R. and the Golgi apparatus and vesicles are part of the cell's highway system because they are involved in moving proteins around the cell and to the outside of the cell.  This cell's highway system is called PROTEIN TRAFFICKING.

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GOLGI APPARATUS   The GOLGI APPARATUS is a bunch of hollow membranous sacs stacked on top of each other like a series of hot water bottles.  They are connected so that they share a single inside compartment.  Protein arrives at the Golgi in transport vesicles from the endoplasmic reticulum and leaves the Golgi packaged in membrane-bound vesicles to go to other organelles or to the outside of the cell.

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Learn about the Cell Membrane	Back to the first page	Back to the organelle review

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This page was created by Patrick Ireland (patric@ireland.com) It was last updated January 3, 2000