Becker's World of the Cell 9th Edition by Lewis Kleinsmith, Jeff Hardin, Gregory Paul Bertoni

Exercise 8

Malfunctions at the Organelle Level. Each of the following medical problems involves a malfunction of an organelle or other cell structure. In each case, identify the organelle or structure involved, and indicate whether it is likely to be underactive or overactive.
(a)A girl inadvertently consumes cyanide and dies almost immediately because ATP production ceases.
(b)A boy is diagnosed with neonatal adrenoleukodystrophy (NALD), which is characterized by an inability of his body to break down very-long-chain fatty acids.
(c)A young man learns that he is infertile because his sperm are nonmotile.
(d)A young child dies because her cells lack an enzyme that normally breaks down a membrane glycolipid that therefore accumulated in the membranes of her nervous system,
(e)A young child is placed on a milk-free diet because the mucosal cells that line his small intestine do not secrete the enzyme necessary to hydrolyze lactose, the disaccharide present in milk.