Cell Exploration: Taking a Closer Look

1. 1.Plant cells are eukaryotic cells that differ in several key respects from the cellsof other eukaryotic organisms. The following are some of the major parts of a plant cell and their corresponding function

Vacuole- a water-filled volume enclosed by a membrane known as the tonoplast maintains the cell's turgor, controls movement of molecules between the cytosol and sap, stores useful material and digests waste proteins and organelles.

•Cell wall- composed of cellulose and hemicellulose, pectin and in many cases lignin, are secreted by the protoplast on the outside of the cell membrane. This contrasts with the cell walls of fungi (which are made ofchitin), and of bacteria, which are made of peptidoglycan.

•Plastids- the notables one being the chloroplasts, which contain chlorophylland the biochemical systems for light harvesting and photosynthesis, but also amyloplasts specialized for starch storage, elaioplastsspecialized for fat storage, and chromoplasts specialized for synthesis and storage of pigments.

2.Unlike animal cells, plant cells are stationary.

3.Cell division by construction of a phragmoplast as a template for building a cell plate late in cytokinesis is characteristic of land plants and a few groups of algae, the notable one being the Charophytes and the Order Trentepohliales.

4.The sperm of bryophytes have flagellae similar to those in animals, but higher plants, (including Gymnosperms and flowering plants) lack the flagellae and centrioles that are present in animal cells

5.The cell is the basic unit of life. Plant cells (unlike animal cells) are surrounded by a thick, rigid cell wall.