A scientist is studying disfunctioning of smooth endoplasmic reticulum in animal cells. Which cellular process is most likely to be directly affected by this change?
Synthesis of lipids and detoxification of drugs
The smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER) has no ribosomes on its surface. Its main functions are the synthesis of lipids – phospholipids for cell membranes and steroid hormones – and the detoxification of drugs and poisons, which is why SER is abundant in liver cells.
So if the SER stops functioning properly, lipid synthesis and detoxification of drugs would be the processes directly affected.
Protein synthesis and modification take place on ribosomes and the rough ER (with further processing in the Golgi apparatus); energy production and ATP synthesis occur in mitochondria; cell division and chromosome separation depend on the nucleus, centrosomes and spindle fibres.
Hence, the process most likely affected is synthesis of lipids and detoxification of drugs.
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