Re: Is it possible for one organelle to have both a cilia and a flagella?

Hey Shannon,
This is a great question but I think you may be mistaking organelle with cell.  Just in case. The 
organelles are what are inside the cells. Just like the organs that make up our body.  We have an 
organ to digest food, organs to excrete waste and so on.  The organelles of the cell keep 
different things happening in the cell from mixing.  We wouldn't want the break down of sugar 
getting mixed with another reaction to build sugar.  These sort of chemical reactions occur all 
throughout the cell and the organelles (or the rooms of the cell) keep these 
reactions from mixing together when we don't want them to.

It is the cell that have the cilia and flagella. Simply put, these structures are like tails (flagella) or 
hairs (cilia) of the cell.  The are made up of membranes just like the plasma membrane. They are 
protrusions that give the cell a more defined structure and function.  The cytoskeleton of the cell 
(microtubules mostly) make the cilia and flagella. Usually, if there are many of them (hair like) 
they are considered cilia. If only one exists and usually longer (tail like) they are considered 
flagella.

Cilia are good for a number of things, including moving of particles and chemicals into and 
around the cell.  We have cilia lining the cells of our digestive system and the hair cells in our 
ear.  Although similar structures, they do different functions.  Cilia are very versatile and make a 
particular cell very specialized.

Flagella are commonly used for movement but cilia can do so as well.  Many bacterium have 
them and human sperm have flagella as well.  There are no cases which I can see or find that use 
them both.  

I hope this helps