The 3D model needs JavaScript and WebGL. The text below is the same as in the model.

Organelle · single membrane

Peroxisomes

Chemical safety officers

Peroxisomes · Chemical safety officers

In view

The interior is a dense matrix of enzymes: oxidases, and catalase to break down the hydrogen peroxide they make. Unlike rodent peroxisomes, human ones have no crystalline core. Most are small rods about 0.1 µm wide, and many lie against the ER.

Small sacs for reactions too risky or specialised for anywhere else. They break down very-long-chain fatty acids, which mitochondria cannot, and begin making plasmalogens, lipids that are abundant in brain and heart.

Those reactions produce hydrogen peroxide, which the enzyme catalase destroys on the spot.

Size
0.1 – 1 µm
Per cell
≈ 90 – 190 (COS-7)
Key enzyme
Catalase
Speciality
Very-long-chain fatty acids
Makes
Plasmalogen lipids

Did you know?

Humans lost urate oxidase, the enzyme that forms the crystal core of rat peroxisomes. That is one reason uric acid can build up in our blood and cause gout.

Sources

  1. A brief history of the human liver peroxisome · De Craemer et al. 2026 · Histochem Cell Biol
  2. Molecule of the Month: Catalase · RCSB PDB-101 · Molecule of the Month
  3. Super-resolution imaging reveals the sub-diffraction phenotype of Zellweger Syndrome ghosts and wild-type peroxisomes · Soliman et al. 2018 · Sci Rep
  4. ACBD5 and VAPB mediate membrane associations between peroxisomes and the ER · Costello et al. 2017 · J Cell Biol
  5. Very long chain fatty acids in higher animals—A review · Poulos 1995 · Lipids
  6. Functions of plasmalogen lipids in health and disease · Braverman & Moser 2012 · Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Basis of Disease
  7. Diameter of peroxisome · BioNumbers · BNID 106729
  8. Measurements of organelle characteristics (numbers, volumes, speeds, and positions) in COS-7 cells (Valm et al. 2017) · BioNumbers · BNID 113930
  9. Two independent mutational events in the loss of urate oxidase during hominoid evolution · Wu et al. 1992 · J Mol Evol
  10. Evolutionary history and metabolic insights of ancient mammalian uricases · Kratzer et al. 2014 · Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Made by Djordje Janjic · LinkedIn