Plant cells, animal cells, and a short review

Understand the idea

The two eukaryotic types you must compare are plant and animal cells. Plant cells are generally larger (about 10–100 μm) with a fixed rectangular shape because a cellulose wall sits outside the plasma membrane. Animal cells are smaller (about 10–30 μm) and irregular, wrapped only by a flexible plasma membrane.

Plant cells have plastids and chloroplasts, one large supporting vacuole, and a nucleus often to one side. They store starch and can make many of their own nutrients. Animal cells lack chloroplasts and a wall. Their vacuoles are small and many. The nucleus is central. They store glycogen, have more mitochondria, and typically have centrioles, centrosomes, and lysosomes.

Both have cytoplasm, ribosomes, and a nucleus. Use those shared parts as the baseline, then add wall, chloroplast, and vacuole to recognise a plant cell in a diagram.

What to remember

• Plant: wall, chloroplasts, large vacuole, starch, fixed shape.
• Animal: no wall, glycogen, centrioles, lysosomes, irregular shape.
• Organ = two or more tissues; prokaryotes lack nuclei.

Recap

Eukaryotic does not mean identical. Plant versus animal is a table of wall, chloroplast, vacuole, stored food, and shape. That table plus cell theory closes Chapter 4.