Plant cell vs Animal cell ( Compare and Contrast )

Wed, 14 Feb 2024 19:50:49 +0000

How are plant cells and animal cells similar and different? There is a great variety and plants and animals found on earth. If you look at a plant cell and an animal cell you will see they have similarities and difference.
Let’s first focus on how they are similar.
They are both considered eukaryotic cells because they both contain a nucleus and membrane bound organelles.
They have many of the same organelles, they both contain a rough and smooth er
Golgi body, mitochondria they both have ribosomes which create proteins. Technically ribosomes are not organelles because they are not membrane bound
In addition, animal and plant cells contain a cytoskeleton and cytoplasm,
Both plant and animal cells contain a cell membrane.
Next, let's focus on some of the differences.
A plant cell has a cell wall. The cell wall is a rigid outer covering of a plant cell that provides structure and protection.
Animal cells do not have a cell wall.
A plant cell has chloroplasts. Chloroplasts are the location of photosynthesis which allows the plant to convert sunlight into sugar The mitochondria found in the plant cell then uses this sugar to create energy.
Plants have a large central vacuole compared to an animal cell that contains smaller vacuoles.
Plants cells do not have lysosomes and animal cells do have lysosomes.
Lysosomes help animals break down large molecules, old cell parts and sometimes large macromolecules that get past the cell membrane. The cell wall of a plant keep these large molecules out and plant cells have lytic vacuoles that perform a similar function of the lysosomes in animals.
Plant cells contain plastids and animals do not have plastids.
The plastids of plants take several forms. The following is a picture of several of the different plastids found in a plant.
Plants do not have centrosomes and animals do. Centrosomes are the microtubule organizing and construction center and help spindle fibers attach to the chromosomes during mitosis
So there you go Some of the similarities and difference of a plant and animal cell.