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Why do ribosomes not have a membrane?

As far as I can see they are one of the only organelles with no membrane - does it help them perform a particular function such as protein synthesis??

Thank you !
Original post by gemily97
As far as I can see they are one of the only organelles with no membrane - does it help them perform a particular function such as protein synthesis??

Thank you !

They don't need a membrane to function, so don't have one. If they had a membrane, then moving mRNA, tRNA and proteins in and out of the ribosome would be much more difficult and energy consuming.

There are other organelles without membranes, for example in eukaryotes centrioles, cytoskeleton and undulipodia.
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gemily97
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Makes perfect sense. Thank you so much!

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