Golgi Apparatus

Golgi apparatus is a membranous eukaryotic organelle. An Italian scientist Camillo Golgi first identified it in 1897 and it is also known as Golgi body or Golgi complex. It is composed of flattened, sac like cisternae that are stacked on each other. Each stack contains around 4 to 8 cisternae and each cisternae is about 15 to 20 nm thick. The Golgi complex is polar. Membranes at one end of the stack differ from that of other end in composition (like enzyme content), degree of vesicle formation and thickness. The two ends are cis or forming face and trans or maturing face. The cis end is attached to endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Materials are transported from cis (acts as receiving department) to trans (acts as shipping department) face of cisternae by vesicles.

Golgi body helps in the packaging of cell products especially proteins and also prepares them for secretion. They contain a set of glycosylation enzymes and attaches sugar monomers to the protein molecules. Materials generally move from ER to Golgi apparatus. Protein products are received from ER, packaged into vesicles, fuses with Golgi apparatus where they are modified and destined for seretion or for use in the cell. Golgi body is also involved in lysosome formation and lipid transport.