Courses
Courses for Kids
Free study material
Offline Centres
More
Store Icon
Store
seo-qna
SearchIcon
banner

State the main function of lysosome.

Answer
VerifiedVerified
482.1k+ views
Hint: Each lysosome is enclosed by a membrane which, through a proton pump, retains an acidic environment inside the interior. Lysosomes serve as the cell's waste disposal mechanism by digesting products from both within and outside the cell in the cytoplasm

Complete step by step answer:
First we should know about lysosome to answer this question. In many animal cells, a lysosome is a membrane-bound organelle. They are spherical vesicles that carry hydrolytic enzymes which degrade all kinds of biomolecules. A lysosome, with its membrane proteins and its lumenal proteins, has a particular structure. Lysosomes are subcellular organelles present in almost all types of eukaryotic cells (cells with a specifically established nucleus) that are liable for the degradation of macromolecules, old cell pieces and microorganisms. In the 1950s, the Belgian cytologist Christian René de Duve found lysosomes.
Endocytosis takes up content from outside the cell, while content from within the cell is digested via autophagy. These enzymes are involved only in the acidic interior of the lysosome; their acid-dependent action, in the event of lysosomal leakage or collapse, prevents the cell from self-degradation because the cell’s pH is neutral to mildly alkaline.

Note: Lysosomes derive from emerging off the trans-Golgi network membrane, an area of the Golgi complex liable for sorting newly synthesized proteins that can be allocated for use in endosome, lysosomes, or plasma membranes.