Golgi complex
Structure and Function
DR. FARHEEN WAZIRI
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY
GAUTAM BUDDHA MAHILA COLLEGE
Golgi body / Golgi complex
Golgi Apparatus definition
The Golgi apparatus or the Golgi body or Golgi complex or simply Golgi is a cellular
organelle present in most of the cells of the eukaryotic organisms.
It is referred to as the manufacturing and the shipping center of the cell.
Golgi is involved in the packaging of the protein molecules before they are sent to their
destination. These organelles help in processing and packaging the macromolecules
like proteins and lipids that are synthesized by the cell and hence act as the ‘post office’
of the cell.
Golgi apparatus was discovered in the year 1898 by an Italian biologist Camillo Golgi. In
plant it is called Dictyosome.
Figure: Diagram of Golgi Apparatus
Structure of Golgi apparatus
Under the electron microscope, the Golgi apparatus is seen to be composed of stacks of
flattened structures that contain numerous vesicles containing secretory granules.
The Golgi apparatus is morphologically very similar in both plant and animal cells.
However, it is extremely pleomorphic: in some cell types it appears compact and limited,
in others spread out and reticular (net-like).
Typically, however, Golgi apparatus appears as a complex array of interconnecting
tubules, vesicles, and cisternae.
A. Cisternae
It is the simplest unit of the Golgi apparatus is the cisterna.
Cisternae (about 1 μm in diameter) are central, flattened, plate-like or saucer-like closed
compartments that are held in parallel bundles or stacks one above the other.
In each stack, cisternae are separated by a space of 20 to 30 nm which may contain rod-
like elements or fibers.
Each stack of cisternae forms a dictyosome which may contain 5 to 6 Golgi cisternae in
animal cells or 20 or more cisternae in plant cells.
Each cisterna is bounded by a smooth unit membrane (7.5 nm thick), having a lumen
varying in width from about 500 to 1000 nm.
The margins of each cisterna are gently curved so that the entire dictyosome of the Golgi
apparatus takes on a bow-like appearance.
The cisternae at the convex end of the dictyosome comprise proximal, forming or cis-face
and cisternae at the concave end of the dictyosome comprise the distal, maturing or trans-
face.
B. Tubules
A complex array of associated vesicles and anastomosing tubules (30 to 50 nm diameter)
surround the dictyosome and radiate from it. In fact, the peripheral area of the dictyosome
is fenestrated (lace-like) in structure.
C. Vesicles
The vesicles (60 nm in diameter) are of three types:
(i) Transitional vesicles are small membrane limited vesicles which are thought to form as
blebs from the transitional ER to migrate and converge to cis face of Golgi, where they
coalesce to form new cisternae.
(ii) Secretory vesicles are varied-sized membrane-limited vesicles that discharge from
margins of cisternae of Golgi. They, often, occur between the maturing face of Golgi and
the plasma membrane.
(iii) Clathrin-coated vesicles are spherical protuberances, about 50 μm in diameter and with
a rough surface. They are found at the periphery of the organelle, usually at the ends of
single tubules, and are morphologically quite distinct from the secretory vesicles. The
clathrin-coated vesicles are known to play a role in intracellular traffic of membranes and
of secretory products, i.e., between ER and Golgi, as well as, between the GELR region
and the endosomal and lysosomal compartments.
Function of Golgi Apparatus
1. Golgi vesicles are often, referred to as the “traffic police” of the cell. They play a key role in
sorting many of the cell’s proteins and membrane constituents, and in directing them to their proper
destinations.
To perform this function, the Golgi vesicles contain different sets of enzymes in different
types of vesicles— cis, middle and trans cisternae—that react with and modify secretory
proteins passing through the Golgi lumen or membrane proteins and glycoproteins that are
transiently in the Golgi membranes as they are en route to their final destinations.
The Golgi apparatus hence acts as the assembly factory of the cell where the raw materials
are directed to the Golgi apparatus before being passed out from the cell.
2. In animals, the Golgi apparatus is involved in the packaging and exocytosis of the following
materials:
Zymogen of exocrine pancreatic cells;
Mucus (=a glycoprotein) secretion by goblet cells of the intestine;
Lactoprotein (casein) secretion by mammary gland cells (Merocrine secretion);
Secretion of compounds (thyroglobulins) of thyroxine hormone by thyroid cells;
Secretion of tropocollagen and collagen;
Formation of melanin granules and other pigments; and
Formation of yolk and vitelline membrane of growing primary oocytes.
3. It is also involved in the formation of certain cellular organelles such as plasma membrane,
lysosomes, acrosome of spermatozoa and cortical granules of a variety of oocytes.
4. They are also involved in the transport of lipid molecules around the cell.
5. The Golgi complex also plays an important role in the production of proteoglycans. The
proteoglycans are molecules that are present in the extracellular matrix of the animal cells.
6. It is also a major site of synthesis of carbohydrates. These carbohydratres include the synthesis
of glycosaminoglycans, Golgi attaches to these polysaccharides which then attaches to a protein
produced in the endoplasmic reticulum to form proteoglycans.
7. The Golgi involves in the sulfation process of certain molecules.
8. The process of phosphorylation of molecules by the Golgi requires the import of ATP into the
lumen of the Golgi.
9. In plants, Golgi apparatus is mainly involved in the secretion of materials of primary and
secondary cell walls (e.g., formation and export of glycoproteins, lipids, pectins and monomers for
hemicellulose, cellulose, lignin, etc.)
References
1. Verma, P. S., & Agrawal, V. K. (2006). Cell Biology, Genetics, Molecular Biology,
Evolution & Ecology (1 ed.). S .Chand and company Ltd.
2. Stephen R. Bolsover, Elizabeth A. Shephard, Hugh A. White, Jeremy S. Hyams (2011).
Cell Biology: A short Course (3 ed.).Hoboken,NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
3. Alberts, B. (2004). Essential cell biology. New York, NY: Garland Science Pub.
