In cell biology

Cell biology

Cell biology is a scientific discipline that studies cells – their physiological properties, their structure, the organelles they contain, interactions with their environment, their life cycle, division and death. This is done both on a microscopic and molecular level...

, the centrosome is an organelle

Organelle

In cell biology, an organelle is a specialized subunit within a cell that has a specific function, and is usually separately enclosed within its own lipid bilayer....

 that serves as the main microtubule organizing center

Microtubule organizing center

The microtubule-organizing center is a structure found in eukaryotic cells from which microtubules emerge. MTOCs have two main functions: the organization of eukaryotic flagella and cilia and the organization of the mitotic and meiotic spindle apparatus, which separate the chromosomes during cell...

 (MTOC) of the animal cell

Cell (biology)

The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....

 as well as a regulator of cell-cycle progression. It was discovered by Edouard Van Beneden

Edouard Van Beneden

Edouard Joseph Marie Van Beneden , son of Pierre-Joseph Van Beneden, was a Belgian embryologist, cytologist and marine biologist. He was professor of zoology at the University of Liège. He contributed to cytogenetics by his works on the roundworm Ascaris...

 in 1883
and was described and named in 1888 by Theodor Boveri

Theodor Boveri

-External links:* Fritz Baltzer. . excerpt from . University of California Press, Berkeley; pp. 85–97....

. In the theory of evolution the centrosome is thought to have evolved only in the metazoan lineage of eukaryotic cells. Fungi

Fungus

A fungus is a member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds , as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from plants, animals, and bacteria...

 and plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

s use other MTOC structures to organize their microtubules.