Similarities & Differences

Similarities

• In both plant and animal cells there is a cell membrane. This is a semipermeable membrane made out of protein and fats. In an animal cell, the cell membrane surrounds the cell keeping the other cell parts secure. The plant cell still has the same membrane that surrounds the cell and it also has a cell wall that surrounds the membrane too.
• Golgi body is a similarity between the two kind of cells. A Golgi body packages protein and carbohydrates into the vesicles for export from the cell.
• A nucleus is another common part in both cells. The nucleus controls many of the functions in the cell and also contains DNA. It is surrounded by a nuclear membrane.

Differences

• In a plant cell, you will only find a single vacuole, that is used to maintain the shape of the cell. Compare to the plant cell, in animal cells you will find many vacuoles. These vacuoles fill with food being digested and waste materials to be excreted.
• Lysosome is found in animal cells. It is a round organelle surrounded by a membrane that contains digestion enzymes. This is where the digestion of cell nutrients takes place. Lysosomes are not found in plant cells.

PLANT CELL

This is a picture of typical looking plant cell structure.




















Here is the function of each aspects:

Plants are unique among the eukaryotes because they can manufacture their own food, chlorophyll which gives plants their green color and enables them to use sunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide into sugars and carbohydrates.

Cell Wall

It protects the intracellular contents, the structure bestows rigidity to the plant, provides a porous medium for the circulation and distribution of water, minerals, and other nutrients and houses specialized molecules that regulate growth and protect the plant from disease.

Chloroplasts

They able to to conduct photosynthesis, in effect, to make their own food by converting light energy into chemical energy.

Endoplasmic Reticulum

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a network of flattened sacs and branching tubules that extends throughout the cytoplasm in plant and animal cells. There are two basic kinds of endoplasmic reticulum morphologies: rough and smooth. The surface of rough endoplasmic reticulum is covered with ribosomes, giving it a bumpy appearance when viewed through the microscope.

Rough ER: Involved mainly with the production and processing of proteins that will be exported, or secreted, from the cell.

Smooth ER: Involved with the production of lipids (fats), building blocks for carbohydrate metabolism and the detoxification of drugs and poisons.

Golgi

They are found in both plant and animal cells. It modifies proteins and lipids (fats) that have been built in the endoplasmic reticulum and prepares them for export outside of the cell or for transport to other locations in the cell.

Microfilaments

Microfilaments are solid rods made of globular proteins called actin. These filaments are primarily structural in function and are an important component of the cytoskeleton.

Microtubules

They are found throughout the cytoplasm of all eukaryotic cells and carry out a variety of functions, ranging from transport to structural support.

Mitochondria

Mitochondria are rod-shaped organelles that can be considered the power generators of the cell, converting oxygen and nutrients into adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

Nucleus

It stores the cell's hereditary material, or DNA, and it coordinates the cell's activities, which include growth, intermediary metabolism, protein synthesis, and reproduction (cell division).

Peroxisomes

Peroxisomes contain a variety of enzymes, which primarily function together to rid the cell of toxic substances.

Plasmodesmata

Plasmodesmata are small channels that directly connect the cytoplasm of neighboring plant cells to each other, establishing living bridges between cells. Allowing certain molecules to pass directly from one cell to another and are important in cellular communication.

Plasma Membrane

All living cells, prokaryotic and eukaryotic, have a plasma membrane that encloses their contents and serves as a semi-porous barrier to the outside environment. The membrane acts as a boundary, holding the cell constituents together and keeping other substances from entering. The plasma membrane is permeable to specific molecules and allows nutrients and other essential elements to enter the cell and waste materials to leave the cell.

Ribosomes

Ribosomes are mainly found bound to the endoplasmic reticulum and the nuclear envelope, as well as freely scattered throughout the cytoplasm, depending upon whether the cell is plant, animal, or bacteria. The organelles serve as the protein production machinery for the cell.

Vacuoles

Vacuoles are membrane-bound sacs within the cytoplasm of a cell that function in several different ways. In mature plant cells, vacuoles tend to be very large and are extremely important in providing structural support, as well as serving functions such as storage, waste disposal, protection, and growth. Vacuoles in animal cells, however, tend to be much smaller, and are more commonly used to temporarily store materials or to transport substances.

ANIMAL CELL

This is a picture of a typical looking animal cell structure.

The lack of a cell wall allowed animals to develop a greater diversity of cell types, tissues, and organs. Most animal cells are diploid, which means that their chromosomes exist in homologous pairs. However, different chromosomal ploidies are known to occasionally occur.

Here is the functions of each aspects.

Centrioles

Only found in animal cells, these paired organelles are typically located together near the nucleus in the centrosome. Centrioles play a notable role in cell division in the mitosis of animal cells.

Cilia and Flagella

For single-celled eukaryotes, they are needed for the locomotion of individual organisms. In multicellular organisms, cilia move fluid or materials past an immobile cell.

Endoplasmic Reticulum

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a network of flattened sacs and branching tubules that extends throughout the cytoplasm in plant and animal cells. There are two basic kinds of endoplasmic reticulum morphologies: rough and smooth. The surface of rough endoplasmic reticulum is covered with ribosomes, giving it a bumpy appearance when viewed through the microscope.

Rough ER: Involved mainly with the production and processing of proteins that will be exported, or secreted, from the cell.

Smooth ER: Involved with the production of lipids (fats), building blocks for carbohydrate metabolism and the detoxification of drugs and poisons.

Endosomes and Endocytosis

Endosomes are membrane-bound vesicles formed via a complex family of processes (endocytosis) and its found in the cytoplasm. They reverse of what occurs during exocytosis or cellular secretion

Golgi

They are found in both plant and animal cells. It modifies proteins and lipids (fats) that have been built in the endoplasmic reticulum and prepares them for export outside of the cell or for transport to other locations in the cell.

Intermediate Filaments

They are a very broad class of fibrous proteins that play an important role as both structural and functional elements of the cytoskeleton.

Lysosomes

Lysosomes serve as digestion compartments for cellular materials that have exceeded their lifetime or are otherwise no longer useful. They break down cellular waste products and debris from outside the cell into simple compounds, which are transferred to the cytoplasm as new cell-building materials.

Microfilaments

These filaments are primarily structural in function and are an important component of the cytoskeleton.

Microtubules

They are found throughout the cytoplasm of all eukaryotic cells. They form part of the cytoskeleton that gives structure and shape to a cell and also move other organelles throughout the cytoplasm.

Mitochondria

Mitochondria are rod-shaped organelles converting oxygen and nutrients into adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

Nucleus

It stores the cell's hereditary material, or DNA, and it coordinates the cell's activities, which include growth, intermediary metabolism, protein synthesis, and reproduction (cell division).

Peroxisomes

They are found in the cytoplasm of almost all cells bound by a single membrane and get rid the toxic substances in cells.

Plasma Membrane

All living cells, prokaryotic and eukaryotic, have a plasma membrane that encloses their contents. The membrane acts as a boundary, holding the cell constituents together and keeping other substances from entering. The plasma membrane is permeable to specific molecules and allows nutrients and other essential elements to enter the cell and waste materials to leave the cell.

Ribosomes

Ribosomes are mainly found bound to the endoplasmic reticulum and the nuclear envelope, as well as freely scattered throughout the cytoplasm, depending upon whether the cell is plant, animal or bacteria. The organelles produce protein for the cell.

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