Plant cell

A plant cell is slightly more advanced than an animal cell – it has a higher number of organelles and is also larger.

Plant cells have a cell wall, an important difference to most animal cells. The cell wall provides stability and support for the cell and acts slightly like a skeleton for the plant. It is made up of cellulose, which is the most common organic substance in nature. The plant cell is also able to produce its own sugar by means of its chlorophyll.

The plant cell has a cell nucleus, which contains the cell’s DNA. The DNA determines the type of protein produced in the ribosome. A cell requires energy to produce protein, and this energy is generated by burning glucose. This process takes place in the mitochondria of the cell. This is what we refer to as cellular respiration.

If something goes wrong, and foreign bodies enter the cell, the lysosome of the cell takes care of it by enclosing the foreign body and breaking it down.

A plant cell has vacuoles, which are fluid-filled cavities with different salts and acids dissolved in water. The vacuoles of all a plant's cells are important for maintaining structure. If a plant is dehydrated, the vacuoles contain too little water and the plant looks like it has slumped and withered when it does not have enough liquid.

The different component parts of a plant cell are known as organelles, and were originally single-cell organisms or prokaryotes. These may vary in type, depending on the function of the cell they are in for the plant. The green parts of the plant comprise the chloroplasts. The chloroplasts contain the green pigment chlorophyll, and this is where photosynthesis takes place.