Animal and plant cell
The cell is the basic unit of life, be it animal or plant. When we talk about animal and plant cells, we can clarify that there are countless differences between them that we will now identify. Although the two cells are eukaryotic cells, that is, they have a defined nucleus with a nuclear envelope that contains DNA.
Between the animal cell and the plant cell there are many differences that we can observe in the following table.
Index Animal cell | plant cell | |
| Nutrition | Heterotrophic | Autotrofa |
| Cellular wall | It does not have a cell wall, it has a cytoplasmic membrane | It has a rigid membrane that protects it |
| I quote center | It has a cyto center that controls the movement of flagella and cilia | It does not contain the center because it does not move |
| Chloroplast | Does not contain chloroplast | It has a chloroplast that photosynthesizes |
| Core | Has a core | Has a core |
| Vacuola | It does not have and if it has it is very small | It has a large central vacuole with reserve water |
| Poros | It has pores for the exchange of nutrients and wastes | It does not have pores as it has a cell wall |
| Chloroplasts | It does not have and therefore cannot photosynthesize | Contains and therefore can photosynthesize |
| Shape | It can have different shapes and irregular | Usually prismatic and regular shape |
What is an animal cell:
The animal cell is a eukaryotic cell surrounded by a cell membrane. Both in humans and animals there is a great differentiation between them according to the functions.
Most animal cells are made up of three parts:
- Cytoplasm: It is what surrounds the nucleus and is contained by the cell membrane. Inside the cytoplasm are the organelles.
- Nucleus: It is the one that directs everything that happens in the cell and has the ability to produce other cellular organelles.
- Cell membrane . it is a membrane that protects the animal cell
Animal cell function
The function of the animal cell is responsible for nutrition by capturing external nutrient substances to convert them into substances of the cell itself, generating energy that the living being uses. Therefore animal cells are heterotrophic .
Characteristic of the animal cell
The size of the animal cell as well as its shape is highly variable and can measure from 1 to 100 microns. Therefore, they are visible only with microsciopes. They do not have a cell wall like plant cells and are part of multicellular organisms such as humans or animals.
Types of animal cells
Animal cells do not work in isolation, but rather in groups that form tissues. Living beings are made up of four basic types of tissue: Conjunctive, muscular, nervous and epithelial. In each of them the cells fulfill different functions.
The name of the animal cell depends on the type of tissue, for example:
- From adipose tissue they are called adiposites .
- From bone tissue they are called osteocytes.
- From cartilage tissue they are called chondrocytes.
- Neurons are called neurons.
- Blood tissue is called red or white blood cells .
- In addition to these cells that we name in living beings there are other types of cells such as eggs and sperm .
What is a plant cell:
Plant cells are eukaryotic cells found in all plant tissues that make up the Kingdom Plantae. They are generally larger cells than those of animals, although they share some similarities. Among them is that in addition to being eukaryotic cells they have a differentiated nucleus, with DNA, membrane and cytoplasm.
Plant cell function
The function of the plant cell is exclusive to this type of cell and is to carry out Photosynthesis, a process of all plants by which they take up oxygen. Therefore plant cells are autotrophic.
Characteristic of the plant cell
Among the characteristics of plant cells we can say that they have a central vacuole that allows the digestion of waste. They have a cell wall that provides support and the main characteristic is that they have organelles with chloroplasts that allow photosynthesis and that they have chlorophyll, a pigment that gives plants its color.
Plant cell types
There are three types of plant cells:
- Parenchyma cell
- Collenchyma cells
- Sclerenchyma cells
About Author
JessicaTempest
Bachelor in Technological and Industrial Chemistry from the Federal University of Alagoas in 2018 and a Technical in Chemistry from the Federal Institute of Education, Science, and Technology of Pernambuco in 2011. Completed complementary courses involving information management, intellectual property, laboratory techniques, and operation of chemical processes. I have been working since 2016 with online content production. I also held positions in the administrative, educational, laboratory, and industrial areas.