Plant cell

Structure of a plant cell

Plant cells are eukaryotic cells present in

green plants, photosynthetic eukaryotes of
the kingdom Plantae. Their distinctive
features include primary cell walls
containing cellulose, hemicelluloses and
pectin, the presence of plastids with the
capability to perform photosynthesis and
store starch, a large vacuole that regulates
turgor pressure, the absence of flagella or
centrioles, except in the gametes, and a
unique method of cell division involving
the formation of a cell plate or
phragmoplast that separates the new
daughter cells.

Characteristics of plant cells

Plant cells have cell walls, constructed
outside the cell membrane and
composed of cellulose, hemicelluloses,
and pectin. Their composition contrasts
with the cell walls of fungi, which are
made of chitin, of bacteria, which are
made of peptidoglycan and of archaea,
which are made of
pseudopeptidoglycan. In many cases
lignin or suberin are secreted by the
protoplast as secondary wall layers
inside the primary cell wall. Cutin is
secreted outside the primary cell wall
and into the outer layers of the
secondary cell wall of the epidermal
cells of leaves, stems and other above-
ground organs to form the plant cuticle.
Cell walls perform many essential
functions. They provide shape to form
the tissue and organs of the plant, and
play an important role in intercellular
communication and plant-microbe
interactions.[1]
Many types of plant cells contain a large
central vacuole, a water-filled volume
enclosed by a membrane known as the
tonoplast[2] that maintains the cell's
turgor, controls movement of molecules
between the cytosol and sap, stores
useful material such as phosphorus and
nitrogen [3] and digests waste proteins
and organelles.
Specialized cell-to-cell communication
pathways known as plasmodesmata,[4]
occur in the form of pores in the primary
cell wall through which the
plasmalemma and endoplasmic
reticulum[5] of adjacent cells are
continuous.
Plant cells contain plastids, the most
notable being chloroplasts, which
contain the green-colored pigment
chlorophyll that converts the energy of
sunlight into chemical energy that the
plant uses to make its own food from
water and carbon dioxide in the process
known as photosynthesis[6]. Other types
of plastids are the amyloplasts,
specialized for starch storage,
elaioplasts specialized for fat storage,
and chromoplasts specialized for
synthesis and storage of pigments. As
in mitochondria, which have a genome
encoding 37 genes,[7] plastids have their
own genomes of about 100–120 unique
genes[8] and are interpreted as having
arisen as prokaryotic endosymbionts
living in the cells of an early eukaryotic
ancestor of the land plants and algae.[9]
Cell division in land plants and a few
groups of algae, notably the
Charophytes[10] and the Chlorophyte
Order Trentepohliales,[11]takes place by
construction of a phragmoplast as a
template for building a cell plate late in
cytokinesis.
 The motile, free-swimming sperm of
bryophytes and pteridophytes, cycads
and Ginkgo are the only cells of land
plants to have flagella[12] similar to
those in animal cells,[13][14] but the
conifers and flowering plants do not
have motile sperm and lack both flagella
and centrioles.[15]

Types of plant cells and

tissues
Plant cells differentiate from
undifferentiated meristematic cells
(analogous to the stem cells of animals) to
form the major classes of cells and
tissues of roots, stems, leaves, flowers,
and reproductive structures, each of which
may be composed of several cell types.

Parenchyma

Parenchyma cells are living cells that have

functions ranging from storage and
support to photosynthesis (mesophyll
cells) and phloem loading (transfer cells).
Apart from the xylem and phloem in their
vascular bundles, leaves are composed
mainly of parenchyma cells. Some
parenchyma cells, as in the epidermis, are
specialized for light penetration and
focusing or regulation of gas exchange,
but others are among the least specialized
cells in plant tissue, and may remain
totipotent, capable of dividing to produce
new populations of undifferentiated cells,
throughout their lives.[16] Parenchyma cells
have thin, permeable primary walls
enabling the transport of small molecules
between them, and their cytoplasm is
responsible for a wide range of
biochemical functions such as nectar
secretion, or the manufacture of
secondary products that discourage
herbivory. Parenchyma cells that contain
many chloroplasts and are concerned
primarily with photosynthesis are called
chlorenchyma cells. Others, such as the
majority of the parenchyma cells in potato
tubers and the seed cotyledons of
legumes, have a storage function.

Collenchyma

Collenchyma cells – collenchyma cells are

alive at maturity and have thickened
cellulosic cell walls.[17] These cells mature
from meristem derivatives that initially
resemble parenchyma, but differences
quickly become apparent. Plastids do not
develop, and the secretory apparatus (ER
and Golgi) proliferates to secrete
additional primary wall. The wall is most
commonly thickest at the corners, where
three or more cells come in contact, and
thinnest where only two cells come in
contact, though other arrangements of the
wall thickening are possible.[17] Pectin and
hemicellulose are the dominant
constituents of collenchyma cell walls of
dicotyledon angiosperms, which may
contain as little as 20% of cellulose in
Petasites.[18] Collenchyma cells are
typically quite elongated, and may divide
transversely to give a septate appearance.
The role of this cell type is to support the
plant in axes still growing in length, and to
confer flexibility and tensile strength on
tissues. The primary wall lacks lignin that
would make it tough and rigid, so this cell
type provides what could be called plastic
support – support that can hold a young
stem or petiole into the air, but in cells that
can be stretched as the cells around them
elongate. Stretchable support (without
elastic snap-back) is a good way to
describe what collenchyma does. Parts of
the strings in celery are collenchyma.

Scler  
enchy
ma

Sclere
nchym
a is a
tissue Cross section of a leaf showing various
plant cell types
compo
sed of two types of cells, sclereids and
fibres that have thickened, lignified
secondary walls[17]:78 laid down inside of
the primary cell wall. The secondary walls
harden the cells and make them
impermeable to water. Consequently,
scereids and fibres are typically dead at
functional maturity, and the cytoplasm is
missing, leaving an empty central cavity.
Sclereids or stone cells, (from the Greek
skleros, hard) are hard, tough cells that
give leaves or fruits a gritty texture. They
may discourage herbivory by damaging
digestive passages in small insect larval
stages. Sclereids form the hard pit wall of
peaches and many other fruits, providing
physical protection to the developing
kernel. Fibres are elongated cells with
lignified secondary walls that provide load-
bearing support and tensile strength to the
leaves and stems of herbaceous plants.
Sclerenchyma fibres are not involved in
conduction, either of water and nutrients
(as in the xylem) or of carbon compounds
(as in the phloem), but it is likely that they
evolved as modifications of xylem and
phloem initials in early land plants.
 

cells of Arabidopsis thaliana epidermis

Xylem

Xylem is a complex vascular tissue

composed of water-conducting tracheids
or vessel elements, together with fibres
and parenchyma cells. Tracheids [19] are
elongated cells with lignified secondary
thickening of the cell walls, specialised for
conduction of water, and first appeared in
plants during their transition to land in the
Silurian period more than 425 million years
ago (see Cooksonia). The possession of
xylem tracheids defines the vascular
plants or Tracheophytes. Tracheids are
pointed, elongated xylem cells, the
simplest of which have continuous
primary cell walls and lignified secondary
wall thickenings in the form of rings,
hoops, or reticulate networks. More
complex tracheids with valve-like
perforations called bordered pits
characterise the gymnosperms. The ferns
and other pteridophytes and the
gymnosperms have only xylem tracheids,
while the flowering plants also have xylem
vessels. Vessel elements are hollow xylem
cells without end walls that are aligned
end-to-end so as to form long continuous
tubes. The bryophytes lack true xylem
tissue, but their sporophytes have a water-
conducting tissue known as the hydrome
that is composed of elongated cells of
simpler construction.

Phloem

Phloem is a specialised tissue for food

transport in higher plants, mainly
transporting sucrose along pressure
gradients generated by osmosis, a process
called translocation. Phloem is a complex
tissue, consisting of two main cell types,
the sieve tubes and the intimately
associated companion cells, together with
parenchyma cells, phloem fibres and
sclereids.[17]:171 Sieve tubes are joined
end-to-end with perforate end-plates
between known as sieve plates, which
allow transport of photosynthate between
the sieve elements. The sieve tube
elements lack nuclei and ribosomes, and
their metabolism and functions are
regulated by the adjacent nucleate
companion cells. The companion cells,
connected to the sieve tubes via
plasmodesmata, are responsible for
loading the phloem with sugars. The
bryophytes lack phloem, but moss
sporophytes have a simpler tissue with
analogous function known as the leptome.

This is an electron micrograph of the epidermal cells

of a Brassica chinensis leaf. The stomates are also
visible.

Epidermis

The plant epidermis is specialised tissue,

composed of parenchyma cells, that
covers the external surfaces of leaves,
stems and roots. Several cell types may be
present in the epidermis. Notable among
these are the stomatal guard cells that
control the rate of gas exchange between
the plant and the atmosphere, glandular
and clothing hairs or trichomes, and the
root hairs of primary roots. In the shoot
epidermis of most plants, only the guard
cells have chloroplasts. Chloroplasts
contain the green pigment chlorophyll
which is needed for photosynthesis. The
epidermal cells of aerial organs arise from
the superficial layer of cells known as the
tunica (L1 and L2 layers) that covers the
plant shoot apex,[17] whereas the cortex
and vascular tissues arise from innermost
layer of the shoot apex known as the
corpus (L3 layer). The epidermis of roots
originates from the layer of cells
immediately beneath the root cap. The
epidermis of all aerial organs, but not
roots, is covered with a cuticle made of
polyester cutin or polymer cutan (or both),
with a superficial layer of epicuticular
waxes. The epidermal cells of the primary
shoot are thought to be the only plant cells
with the biochemical capacity to
synthesize cutin.[20]

See also
Animal cell
 Chromatin
Cytoplasm
Chloroplast
Cytoskeleton
Nuclear membrane
Leucoplast
Golgi Bodies
Nucleus
Nucleolus
Mitochondrion
Wall-associated kinase
Paul Nurse

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20. Kolattukudy, PE (1996) Biosynthetic
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