Animal and Plant Cells

• Plants are multicellular organisms composed of millions of cells

with specialized functions. The term cell is derived from the
Latin "cella", which means a storeroom or a chamber.

• Plant and animal cells are both eukaryotic cells, so they have
many common features, such as the presence of a cell
membrane, cytoplasm, and cell organelles, e.g. the nucleus,
mitochondria, Golgi apparatus, endoplasmic reticulum, and
ribosomes.
 Differences between animal and plant cells
Items Animal Cell Plant Cell
Cell wall Absent Present (formed of
cellulose)
Plasma (or Cell) Only plasma membrane Cell wall and a plasma
Membrane membrane
Shape Round or irregular shape Rectangular (fixed shape)
Vacuole One or more small One, large central vacuole
vacuoles (smaller than taking up 90% of cell
plant cells) volume
Centrioles Present in all animal cells Only present in lower
plants
Chloroplasts Absent Present
Plastids Absent Present
Lysosomes occur in cytoplasm usually not evident
Cilia Present Mostly absent
Structure of the plant cell:

Plant Cell

Protoplast Cell wall

All the contents within the cell wall Non-living permeable layer

Protoplasmic Non-protoplasmic
(living) (non-living)
components components
1- Plant Cell Wall:
• A major difference between plant and animal cells is that the plant cell is
surrounded by a rigid cell wall which acts for support and protection, mostly
made of polysaccharides (cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin) and lignin. Animal
cells do not have a cell wall.

• Plants have two types of cell walls, primary and secondary, together with the
middle lamella:

1- Primary wall:
• It is formed early in the life of the plant cell.

• Primary cell walls are thin and characteristic of young, growing cells but
become rigid as the cell ages.

• It is composed of a number of polysaccharides, chiefly cellulose, and may be

mixed with hemicellulose or pectin.
2- Secondary wall:
 Secondary cell walls are thicker and stronger than primary walls.

 They are internally deposited upon the primary wall when most cell
enlargement has ended.

 Only certain types of plant cells have secondary walls, usually those
specialized for support, protection, or water conduction.

 Secondary cell walls are firstly formed of cellulose but subsequently

undergoe chemical modifications, which involve the deposition of lginin,
subrin, or cutin to give lignified, subrised, or cutinised walls, respectively.

 The lignified secondary walls provide the structural strength necessary to

grow the plant vertically above the soil.
 Properties of different cell walls
A- Cellulosic walls:
• Formed mainly of cellulose and may be accompanied with hemicellulose.

• Cellulose is a polysaccharide of glucose, occurs in most plants.

• Hemicellulose is a polysaccharide of glucose, mannose, and galactose. It

provides severe hardness to the cell wall, e.g. Date palm.

• They are permeable to water and gases, and give blue colour with chlor-
zinc-iodide.

B- Mucilagenous walls:
• Certain cellulosic cell walls may be converted into mucilage such as in the
epidermal cells of many plants, e.g. Linseed, Foenugreek, and Senna.

• They are hard when dry but become soft and swell up when moistened
with water.
• They are stained blue with methylene blue (for neutral mucilage) and red
with ruthenium red and corallin soda (for acidic mucilage).

C- Lignified walls :
• Lignin is a strengthening material that increases the rigidity of cell walls.

• Chemically, it is a complex phenylpropanoid (C6-C3) polymer.

• Lignification of the cell wall is usually followed by death of the

protoplasm in the cell.

• They are permeable to water but don't retain appreciable amounts of it.

• They are stained red wiht phloroglucinol and conc. hydrolchloric acid,
and yellow with chlor-zinc-iodide.

D- Suberised or cutinised walls:

• Subrin and cutin consist of mixture substances, mainly of highly
polymerized fatty acids such as suberic acid [COOH–(CH2)5-COOH].
• These materials waterproof cells in which they occur.

• Suberin occurs in cork cells, while cutin covers the epidermal cells of
leaves for protection.

• Both types are stained red with alkanna tincture and sudan III reagent.

• They also stain yellow to brown with chlor-zinc-iodide.

E- Chitinous walls:
• Chitin is a polysaccharide containing acetyl and amino groups.

• It constitute the organic skeletal substance of insects and many fungi.

• When heated with 50% potash at 160-170 °C for one hour, it is converted

into chitosan, ammonia, acetic acid and oxalic acid.

• Chitosan gives a deep violet colour when treated with iodine solution

followed by dil. sulphuric acid.

3- Middle lamella or intercellular substance:
• The neighboring plant cells are cemented together by a middle lamella
(intercellular layer). It is a colloidal layer composed of pectic substances. It is
thin, but may become thick and lignified.

• It dissloves in alkalies and the cells can be separated, a character used in

preparation of the isolated elements.
• Although the cell wall is one or two layers thick, it is not a solid structure.
Minute pores, or pits, exist; that allow the transfer of materials through
cell walls.

• Cytoplasmic connections between adjacent plant cells often occur. These

are called plasmodesma and pass through the pits in the cell wall. These
allow for the movement of materials from cell to cell.
2- Plasma Membrane:
 All cells are enclosed in a membrane that serves as their outer boundary,
separating the cytoplasm from the external environment.

 This plasma membrane is semipermeable, allows the cells to take up and

retain certain substances while excluding others (i.e. selective traffic of
solutes across the membrane).

 It consists of a double layer (bilayer) of phospholipids in which proteins are

embedded.
3- The Protoplast:
It represents all the contents within the cell wall, including the protoplasmic

(living) components and non-protoplasmic (non-living) components.

 Protoplasmic (living) components:

include cytoplasm, nucleus, plastids, mitochondria, Golgi apparatus, and other

cell organelles.

 Non-protoplasmic (non-living) components:

include the vacuole and ergastic substances (reserve food material and other

metabolites), e.g. carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids,

glycosides, mineral crystals (calcium oxalate and calcium carbonate crystals).

 Protoplasmic components:

a) Cytoplasm:
 A viscous transparent substance composed of water (up to 90%) in which
proteins, organic acids, and inorganic substances are dispersed.

 It contains a membrane system called the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)

dividing the cytoplasm into sacs or tubes.

 The (ER) is a network of internal membranes that is continuous with the

outer membrane of the nuclear envelope.

 The (ER) lumen of one cell is connected to adjacent cells via plasmodesma.

 There are two types of (ER), smooth and rough, which are interconnected.

 Rough (ER) is covered with ribosomes which synthesize proteins, while

smooth (ER) lacks ribosomes. Smooth (ER) is the site of lipid synthesis.

 Ribosomes are composed of rRNA and proteins.

 The ER helps in:

a) Increasing the surface area of cytoplasm where the enzymes occur.

b) Dividing cytoplasm into components, so metabolites are easily separated.

c) Transporting metabolites from one part of the cell to another.

d) Connecting cell organelles together.

b) Nucleus:
 The nucleus is spherical and more viscous than the cytoplasm.

 In young cells, it is located centrally in the cell, while in older cells; it is

located on one side of the cytoplasm.

 The nucleus carries the heredity characters, used in cell division, and
controls all the metabolic activities inside the cells.
 Nucleus is the site of storage and replication of chromosomes, which are
composed of DNA and its associated proteins. The DNA-protein complex is
known as chromatin.

• The nucleus consists of:

a) Nuclear membrane: a double porous membrane called the nuclear envelope.
These pores allow the transport of substances between the cytosol and the
nucleus.

b) Nuclear sap or nucleoplasm.

c) Chromatin reticulum: consists of chromosomes, each consisting of two

chromatids connected by a centromere.

d) Nucleolus: a densely granular region, which is the site of ribosome

(ribosomal RNA) synthesis. It may be one or more.
c) Plastids:
Plastids are cell organelles that are characteristic for plant cells only.

Types of plastids:

a) Chromoplasts: plastids containing a high concentration of carotenoid

pigments. They give yellow, orange, and red colors to many fruits (tomato),
roots (carrot), and flower petals.

b) Leucoplasts: non-pigmented plastids. An important type of leucoplasts is

"amyloplasts", which are starch-storing plastids.

c) Chloroplasts: plastids containing the green pigment, chlorophyll. They are

found in green tissues of plants, especially the leaf. They are absent in roots.
Structure of chloroplasts:
1) The chloroplast is surrounded by inner and outer membranes.
2) Chloroplasts contain a third system of membranes called "thylakoid". All the
chlorophyll is contained within this membrane, which is the site of light
reactions of photosynthesis. A group of thylakoids forms a “granum”.
3) Thylakoid membranes are highly folded and appear like the arranged coins.
These arranged membranes are known as grana lamellae (or grana thylakoid).
The membranes without arrangement are known as stroma lamellae (or stroma
thylakoid).

4) Each mass is called granum. The region of the chloroplast that is inside the
inner membrane and surrounds thylakoids is known as the stroma.
d) Mitochondria:
 Rod-shaped cytoplasmic organelles representing the site of ATP synthesis.

 They are surrounded by two membranes; the outer is smooth and the inner
is highly folded. These folds of the inner membrane are called "cristae" that
increase the inner surface area on which the enzymes of respiration occur.

 The inner membrane is characterized by the presence of stalked particles

with spherical heads containing ATPase which catalyzes ATP synthesis.

 Mitochondria are responsible for aerobic respiration; converting sugar to

CO2, water, and energy.
e) Golgi apparatus:
• Plant cells contain several hundred Golgi bodies dispersed in the cytoplasm.

• They are flattened membranes with vesicles at their ends and surrounded
by a double membrane.

• The job of the Golgi apparatus is to process and

bundle macromolecules like proteins and lipids

as they are synthesized within the cell.

f) Lysosomes:
• They are structures bound by a single membrane.

• They cause autolysis of dead cells as they contain hydrolytic enzymes which
are used in breakdown of proteins and other macromolecules.
 Non-protoplasmic components:
a) Central vacuoles:

 Mature plant cells contain a large, water-filled central vacuole (usually one
or two).

 The central vacuole can occupy 80-90% of the cell and is surrounded by a
vacuolar membrane.

 It contains water, inorganic ions, organic acids, sugars and enzymes.

 Like animal lysosomes, plant vacuoles contain hydrolytic enzymes,

including proteases, ribonuleases, and glycosidases.

 Vacuoles also have a storage function and provide rigidity to the plant cell.

b) Ergastic cell substances:

They include the reserved food materials (primary metabolites) and the other
secondary metabolites.