Question

State any two functions of the Golgi body.

Answer 1

Hint: The organelle which is involved in secretion and intracellular transport. It is also known as a traffic police of the cell.

Complete answer:
Cell is the basic structural and functional unit of life. Eukaryotic cells are complex in nature as compared to prokaryotic cells. Eukaryotic cells contain various organelles for the functioning of the cell. Golgi body is one of them.
Discovery: Golgi body was first observed by the Camillo Golgi in 1898. That’s why this structure is named as Golgi body. It is also known as Golgi apparatus.
Location: This structure is present near the nucleus.
Structure: It consists of flat, disc shaped sacs or cisternae which are stacked parallel to each other. There are two faces cis and trans in the Golgi body. Cis face is the forming face. Whereas trans face is the maturing face.

Functions:
Golgi body has following functions:
Packaging of material and its distribution: The Golgi body performs the function of packaging the material and delivers it to the different compartments of the cell such as lysosomes, mitochondria, chloroplast etc. It is also responsible for secreting the material outside the cell.
Biosynthesis of glycolipid and glycoproteins: Golgi body contains enzymes such as glycosyl transferase. The glycosyl transferase is essential for glycosylation of protein and leads to synthesis of glycoprotein. It is also involved in glycolipid synthesis.
The Golgi body is also involved in acrosome formation in sperm. In case of plant cells, it is involved in cell plate and cell wall formation during the cell division.
Golgi body acts as a traffic police of cell. Because it modifies the protein and lipid and is involved in targeting the molecule to different parts of the cell and also secretes molecules outside the cell.

Note: Endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi body are different organelles which are present in the eukaryotic cell. Don’t confuse between these organelles.