Crossword clues for vacuole
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Vacuole \Vac"u*ole\, n. [L. vacuus empty: cf. F. vacuole.] (Biol.) A small air cell, or globular space, in the interior of organic cells, either containing air, or a pellucid watery liquid, or some special chemical secretions of the cell protoplasm.
Contractile vacuole. (Zo["o]l.) See under Contractile, and see Illusts. of Infusoria, and Lobosa.
Food vacuole. (Zo["o]l.) See under Food, and see Illust. of Infusoria.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"small cavity or vesicle," 1853, from French vacuole, from Medieval Latin vacuola, formed as a diminutive of Latin vacuus "empty" (see vacuum (n.)).
Wiktionary
n. (context cytology English) A large membrane-bound vesicle in a cell's cytoplasm.
WordNet
n. a tiny cavity filled with fluid in the cytoplasm of a cell
Wikipedia
A vacuole is a membrane-bound organelle which is present in all plant and fungal cells and some protist, animal and bacterial cells. Vacuoles are essentially enclosed compartments which are filled with water containing inorganic and organic molecules including enzymes in solution, though in certain cases they may contain solids which have been engulfed. Vacuoles are formed by the fusion of multiple membrane vesicles and are effectively just larger forms of these. The organelle has no basic shape or size; its structure varies according to the needs of the cell.
The function and significance of vacuoles varies greatly according to the type of cell in which they are present, having much greater prominence in the cells of plants, fungi and certain protists than those of animals and bacteria. In general, the functions of the vacuole include:
- Isolating materials that might be harmful or a threat to the cell
- Containing waste products
- Containing water in plant cells
- Maintaining internal hydrostatic pressure or turgor within the cell
- Maintaining an acidic internal pH
- Containing small molecules
- Exporting unwanted substances from the cell
- Allows plants to support structures such as leaves and flowers due to the pressure of the central vacuole
- In seeds, stored proteins needed for germination are kept in 'protein bodies', which are modified vacuoles.
Vacuoles also play a major role in autophagy, maintaining a balance between biogenesis (production) and degradation (or turnover), of many substances and cell structures in certain organisms. They also aid in the lysis and recycling of misfolded proteins that have begun to build up within the cell. Thomas Boller and others proposed that the vacuole participates in the destruction of invading bacteria and Robert B Mellor proposed organ-specific forms have a role in 'housing' symbiotic bacteria. In protists, vacuoles have the additional function of storing food which has been absorbed by the organism and assisting in the digestive and waste management process for the cell.
The vacuole probably evolved several times independently, even within the Viridiplantae.
Usage examples of "vacuole".
We got out in time to see Suzanna reach the blurry boundary of the vacuole, the place that presumably still looked from the other side like a sheet of impossible lava.
The wall had swallowed Suzanna and our lovely old pup, and left us nothing but his poor tail, which the damned weird vacuole wall had bitten off and left lying there like a lump of garbage.
Way too late, I was already passing smoothly out of the vacuole into the garage.
The amethyst light of the vacuole remained undimmed, but the green fabric of the tent reduced the illumination quite a bit.
Storing the teddy in the vacuole was probably the most considerate thing my fruitcake of a father had ever done.
The blast of air hit us again, but this time from behind, carrying grit from outside, as the vacuole imploded away from our reality into its own constricted dimensions, snatching away the physical support from beneath the crust of nanoids.
The vacuole inflated again back into our universe, instantly, pushing aside the air that had just rushed in to fill the gap left by its abrupt absence.
For the moment, he was contenting himself with protruding these detectors out through a discontinuity in the vacuole, phase-shifting it on and off in short bursts, without of course doing anything so rash, this time, as actually pushing his head outside.
Weeping, we carried her into the vacuole and laid her on a foam rubber mattress.
We had been returned through the bowels of the Earth to the vacuole, and the time jump had been triggered by Gaia.
We emerged from the lava-face of the vacuole and found signs of humanity almost at once.
It was creepy as hell, because this time, unlike the vacuole, I was somehow aware of what was going on and altogether unable to do anything about it.
In that timeless moment, so unlike the head-splitting green flash future-jump of the vacuole, I sobbed again with happiness to find her there, if only for a moment.
When at last we released the vacuole, or it collapsed, released our reprieved lives, the very subatomic particles we were made of would become literally the last things in all the cosmos, and in further trillions and gazillions of frigid years even their feeble few kilos would have evaporated to nothingness.
It was evening when I stumbled out of the vacuole constriction and found myself inside the garage.