Write a note on Golgi apparatus and the functions it performs.
Answer:
Golgi apparatus or Golgi bodies or Golgi complex is composed of membrane-bound fluid-filled vesicles, vacuoles and cisternae. In animal cells they are larger and only one or two in number, while in plants they are smaller and more in number. Also, in plant cells, they are distributed throughout - the cytoplasm and are called dictyosomes.
Functions:
- It is involved in the transport and modification of protein, lipids as well as carbohydrates.
- It helps in the formation of cell plate during cell division.
- It is also involved in the formation of cell wall, plasma membrane lysosomes and peroxisomes.
- The material synthesised near endoplasmic reticulum is packaged and dispatched to various targets and outside the cell through the Golgi apparatus.