Cells Adapted to

Their Function
CELL

FUNCTION

ADAPTION

Leaf cell

Packed with chloroplasts

that moves around the
vacuole filling up the plant
cell so that it can trap more
sunlight. They are also
regular shaped, closely
Absorbs light packed cells form a
energy for
continuous layer for
photosynthes efficient absorption of
is
sunlight.

Root hair cell

Absorbs
water and
mineral ions
from the soil

The elongated structure of

the cell is an advantage as
to absorbing more water
from the soil in increased
surface area.

Sperm cell

Red blood cells

Fertilises an
egg cell
female
gamete

Contain
haemoglobin
to carry
oxygen to the
cells.

The head contains

genetic information
and an enzyme to
help penetrate the
egg cell membrane.
Its streamlined shape
and long tail allows to
travel towards the egg
cell at a faster pace.
Its mid-section is
packed with
mitochondria for
energy.
Thin outer
membrane allows
oxygen to diffuse
through easily.
Biconcave shape
increases the surface
area to allow more
oxygen to be

CELL

FUNCTION

ADAPTION

absorbed efficiently.
Contains no nucleus,
so the whole cell is
full of haemoglobin,
and thus, more
oxygen can be
carried.

Why is surface-to-volume ratio so important

in biology?

What is surface to volume ratio?

Surface to volume ratio is a fundamental biological concept. It affects a
variety of things, from the maximum size of a cell, to the shape of
an organism, to how internal transport systems are arranged.
Abbreviated SA/V, it is formally defined as the amount of surface area per
unit volume of an object or collection of objects. It is important because so
many biological functions happen on the surface of objects. For example:
Ions diffuse in and out of cells through channels and pores on their
surface.
Oxygen diffuses in and out of cells across their plasma membranes.
Heat diffuses out of our bodies through skin that covers our surface.
As an object grows in size, its surface area will grow too. Look at the
example below. The photo shows the cube-shaped cells that are found inside
your kidneys. Using a simple cube as a model, we can see how surface area
and volume of these cuboidal cells changes if the cells grow larger. In the
model, the cell membrane is represented by the surfaces of the cube. The
volume of cytoplasm in the cuboidal cell is represented by the space inside
the cube.

Left: false color micrograph of the tubules that filter waste in the kidney.
One tubule is highlighted to show epithelial cells (blue), cell nuclei (green)
and the tubule lumen (dark center). The epithelial cells that make up the
tubule are approximately cube-shaped, so are called cuboidal epithelium
cell. Right: schematic diagram showing 2 cubes. One is a 1 mm3 cube, the
other, a 2 mm3 cube.
The cube on the left has 6 sides, each 1 mm x 1 mm, giving it a total surface
area of (1 mm x 1 mm x 6 sides =) 6 mm2. The cube on the right is larger, 2
mm x 2 mm. It has a total surface area of (2 mm x 2 mm x 6 sides =) 24
mm2.
Now let's look at how volumes changes for the same two cubes. The cube on
the left has a total volume of (1 mm x 1 mm x 1 mm) = 1 mm3. The larger
cube on the right has a volume of (2 mm x 2 mm x 2 mm) = 8 mm3. So
volume increases too as the size of an organism increases.
Both surface area and volume increase as an object gets larger, but they do
not increase by the same amount. So the SA/V ratio will change as an
object gets bigger. For the first cube, the SA/V ratio (ignoring the units for
now) is 6/1 = 6. For the second cube, the SA/V ratio is 24/8 = 3. Each time
the size of the cube increases, the SA/V ratio will get smaller. This
relationship is true for most any space-filling shape; as it gets larger, its
SA/V ratio gets smaller.

Why is it significant that surface to

volume ratio decreases as a cell gets
larger?
Remember that a lot of biologically important things happen on surfaces.
Going back to our cuboidalcells, as a cell gets larger, the space inside the
cell increases faster than the surface around it. Intheory, a cell could grow
so large that there would not be enough surface area for a sufficient amount
of ions and oxygen to diffuse across. In other words, the SA/V ratio can
become too small for a cell to survive. This is one of the reasons
why cells are small; if they were larger, not enough oxygen would be able to
diffuse into them.
SA/V ratio affects more than just cells. It is important to large organisms as
well. Humans and other large animals cannot rely on diffusion to move

oxygen and carbon dioxide directly in and out of their body. They must have
a transport system located close to individual cells to transport the gases in
and out. In comparison, animals such as flatworms are thin and have a large
enough surface area that they can absorb oxygen directly from their
environment.
An increased surface area to volume ratio also means increased exposure to
the environment. Jellyfish and anemones have many tentacles that increase
surface area for getting food. More surface area lets them sift through more
of the surrounding water for food.
The shape of individual organs in animals is often related to SA/V ratio.
Our lungs have numerous branches that lead to small thin grape-like sacs
called alveoli. These increase the surface area for gas exchange in our lungs;
without the millions of sacs, our lungs would not have enough surface area
to absorb all the oxygen we need. Most larger animals have
specialized organs (lungs, kidneys, intestines, etc.), organized so that they
increase the surface area available for exchange processes. They also have
a circulatory system to move materials and heat energy between the surface
and the core of the organism.[1]

Surface Area to Volume Ratio

Understandings: Surface area to volume ratio is important
in the limitation of cell size.
Many reactions occur within the cell. Substances need to be taken into the cell to fuel these
reactions and the wast products of the reactions need to be removed. When the cell increases in
size so does its chemical activity. This means that more substances need to be taken in and more
need to be removed. The surface area of the cell is vital for this. Surface area affects the rate at
which particles can enter and exit the cell (the amount of substances that it takes up from the
environment and excretes into the environment), whereas the volume affects the rate at which
material are made or used within the cell, hence the chemical activity per unit of time.
As the volume of the cell increases so does the surface area however not to the same extent.
When the cell gets bigger its surface area to volume ratio gets smaller. To illustrate this we can use
three different cubes. The first cube has a side of 1 cm, the second 3 cm and the third 4 cm. If we
calculate the surface area to volume ratio we get:
Cube 1
Surface area: 6 sides x 12 = 6 cm2
Volume: 13 = 1 cm3
Ratio = 6:1

Cube 2
Surface area: 6 sides x 32 = 54 cm2
Volume: 33 = 27 cm3
Ratio = 2:1
Cube 3
Surface area: 6 sides x 42 = 96 cm2
Volume : 43 = 64 cm3
Ratio = 1.5:1
As we can see the cube with the largest surface area and volume has the smallest surface area to
volume ratio. If the surface area to volume ratio gets too small then substances wont be able to
enter the cell fast enough to fuel the reactions and wast products will start to accumulate within
the cell as they will be produced faster than they can be excreted. In addition, cells will not be able
to lose heat fast enough and so may overheat. Therefor the surface area to volume ratio is very
important for a cell.
Summary:
- Substances need to be taken in to the cell to fuel reactions & waste products need to be removed
- Increase in cell size leads to increase in chemical reactions --> more substances needed in and
more substances needing to be removed
- Surface area affects the rate at which particles enter and exit the cell
- Volume affects the rate of the chemical activities
- When the volume increases so does the surface area but not to the same extent
- As the cell gets larger, its surface area to volume ratio gets smaller
- If the ratio gets too small, particles will not be able to enter and exit the cell fast enough
- Results in accumulation of waste products and overheating of the cell

Why do highly active cells tend to be small?

Best Answer: Because that gives them a higher surface area to volume ratio. So whatever the cell
needs to put out, can get out faster.
Imagine working in a factory(the cell). Let's keep it simple and say you are the only one working there.
And all you do is put nuts on bolts then ship them off. And let's say you receive the nuts and bolts on
one end of the building, and ship them off on the other. The smaller the factory, the less time it takes
you to walk from one side of the building to the other, therefore, you are more productive(active).

(1)
The size of cells is limited by intracellular transport and signalling capabilities. The cell must rely on
passive diffusion and active transport involving microtubules. Both systems can only react in a
reasonable time if the cell is small.
For example, external signals received by receptors in the cyoplasma membrane may have to
reach the nucleus to initiate the production of specific proteins in order to react to the signal. IN

the next step the proteins may need to backtrack the signal's path to the site on the membrane
where the signal was originally received. In "large" cells such systems simply can't work because
of the distances involved (that's the reason why many large cells have many nuclei, e.g. in fungal
hyphae).
Also, mechanical stability has to be taken into account - a cell the size of a grape could not be
stabilized by a cytoplasma membrane. In many tissues the size of cells is also controlled by
neighboring cells through some sort of mutual feedback. In plants the cell walls ultimately limits
the size of single cells in a tissue.
(3)
One adaptation is cell shape. Root hairs, for example, are highly elongated and protrude from the
root surface. This maximizes "effective area per volume"; the worst shape for a single cell in this
regard would be a globe. An increased surface allows for more contact with the medium and
therefore increased nutrient uptake.
Epithelial cells of the small intestine have many membranous "protuberances" or "fingers"
(microvilli) directed towards the intestinal cavity. Analogous to root hairs, the function of the
microvilli is to increase surface and therefore facilitate absorption of nutrients.
For a picture see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microvilli
Red blood cells lack a nucleus and therefore many biochemical abilities. They are dependent on
nutrients from the blood plasma. A good example is a glucose uniporter (one-way transport
system) unique to red blood cells: it allows the uptake of glucose as cellular "fuel" without the
consumption of energy (most other transport processes require energy). However, this only works
if the glucose level in the blood is constantly high.
Best regards,
Christopher

Why can cells only grow to a certain

size?
Cell size is limited by the surface area to volume ratio, the nucleocytoplasmic