The Latin Scientific Word centriolum, which can be translated as “Small center” , passed into the German language and then came to our language as centriole . The concept refers to a organelle of the cells that is composed of microtubules .
It should be remembered that cells they are the fundamental units of a living being that have independent reproduction capacity. The functional and structural units of cells are called organelles : the centriole, or centriole , is one of these organelles.
As we said lines above, the centrioles are formed by microtubules , which are hollow filaments constituted by protein . Its function is to favor the movement of the cell through the flagella and cilia (cell structures in the form of appendages that look like microscopic hairs) and organize their cytoskeleton .
Microtubules are structures of cells grouped in tubular form, with an outer diameter of 25 nm and an inner diameter of 12 nm. With respect to its length, it can be a few nanometers or a few micrometers. They arise in specific organizing centers and move across the entire surface of the cytoplasm .
With respect to the cytoskeleton, we can say that it is a network of proteins that provides internal support in eukaryotic cells, is responsible for the organization of internal structures and also participates in the phenomena of cell division, traffic and transport.
The centriole must go through a process of replication to lead to the creation of several procentrioles and, thus, participate in the formation of cilia in the so-called differentiation cells , which start from a lineage to acquire the functions and the morphology of another.
When the centrioles are positioned in pairs and placed perpendicular to each other, they form a diplosome . These diplosomes may be surrounded by a dough protein, forming a centrosome . The centrosomes, therefore, are two paired centrioles (diplosomes) that are embedded in the proteins that are around them.
It is important to note, on the other hand, that the centrioles have intervention in the process of cell division. Each of the centrioles of the stem cell passes to one of the daughter cells acting as a pattern or model for the development of the new centriole. The location of the nucleus and the rest of the spatial organization of the cell in question depend on the position of the centrioles in the cell.
The structure The centriole is very particular: each one consists of nine triplets of microtubules, which are located in such a way that their appearance is that of a circle. The one that is closest to the center is called microtubule A and has thirteen protofilaments (which is why it is considered "complete").
Two other microtubules are attached to A: the B, with which it shares three protofilaments, and the C, which is furthest from the center and with which it also has three protofilaments in common. The protein that binds the triplets is called nexin.
This concept belongs to the scope of the molecular biology , which has the purpose of studying the processes whose development takes place in living organisms from the perspective of molecule . At present, it is understood that the objective of molecular biology is to offer an explanation for the phenomena of life based on their macromolecular properties.
Within this branch of biology, the following two are the macromolecules that mainly represent its object of study:
* nucleic acids , group in which the deoxyribonucleic acid, commonly known by its acronym stands out DNA ;
* proteins , that in a living organism are its active agents.
