Answer: Eukaryotic cells — those that make up cattails and apple trees, mushrooms and dust mites, halibut and readers of Scitable — have evolved ways to partition off different functions to various locations in the cell. In fact, specialized compartments called organelles exist within eukaryotic cells for this purpose. Different organelles play different roles in the cell — for instance, mitochondria generate energy from food molecules; lysosomes break down and recycle organelles and macromolecules; and the endoplasmic reticulum helps build membranes and transport proteins throughout the cell. But what characteristics do all organelles have in common? And why was the development of three particular organelles — the nucleus, the mitochondrion, and the chloroplast — so essential to the evolution of present-day eukaryotes.
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