Cellular Biology- Parts of Plant Cells and Their Functions.

Cells are the smallest element that can live on its own and makes up all living organisms and tissues. They are the building blocks of life, and are really, really small- they are usually measured in μm. In this article, we’ll be looking at plant cells and their functions. Plant cells are eukaryotic cells (cells with a definite nucleus) found in green plants, which are photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae.

Parts of a plant cell:

Cell walls: Plant cells have cell walls (found outside the cell membrane) which are made up of cellulose, hemicelluloses, and pectin. It supports and protects the cell from damage. It is vital to not confuse cell walls with cell membranes.

Vacuole: It has a large central vacuole that sustains the cell's turgor, controls movement of molecules, stores useful material such as phosphorus and nitrogen, and digests waste proteins and organelles. Inside it is the cell sap, which is basically a water solution of salts and sugars kept at high concentration. These high concentrations causes the entry, of water into the vacuole by osmosis. This expands the vacuole and creates turgor pressure, which presses the cell membrane against the cell wall. Turgor pressure is the reason why plants cells are rigid. If turgor pressure in the plants decreases, the plants begin to wilt, therefore, plant cells are best in hypotonic solutions.

Plastids: An example of plastids is chloroplasts, which contain the green-colored pigment chlorophyll does the process, photosynthesis, where the plant makes its food by sunlight. There are, sometimes, over one hundred chloroplasts in certain plant cells! Other kinds of plastids include the amyloplasts (for starch storage), elaioplasts (for fat storage), and chromoplasts (for synthesis and storage of pigments).

Nucleus: The nucleus contains the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), which is the cell’s genetic material. DNA holds instructions for making proteins (regulates all of the body’s activities). The nucleus also controls the growth and division of the cell.

Mitochondria: They produce ATP by cellular respiration. Photosynthesis in chloroplasts gives the nutrients that mitochondria break down for usage in cellular respiration.

Cytoplasm: Cytoplasm is Cytosol (liquid within the cells; made up of water, ions, proteins, and small molecules) and all the organelles inside it, apart from the nucleus.

Cell Membrane: The cell membrane is a semi-permeable structure (allows some substances to pass through but not others.) that surrounds the cell.

Nucleolus: An area inside the nucleus of a cell that’s made up of RNA and proteins and is where ribosomes are made.

Endoplasmic Reticulum: Plays a key role in the making, processing, and transportation of proteins and lipids.

Peroxisome: Are organelles that sequester varied oxidative reactions and play vital roles in metabolism, reactive oxygen species detoxification, and signaling.

Golgi apparatus:  It is a place where the complex polysaccharides of the cell wall (cellulose) are made.

Ribosomes: It acts like a template, which brings together diverse components involved in the making of proteins.

Conclusion:

In summary, a plant cell has some features common with an animal cell (i.e. cell membrane, nucleus, etc.) and plant cells have some features that animal cells don’t have (i.e. cell wall, chloroplasts, and many more). I hope you found this article useful. If you have any suggestions or any comments, please feel free to share it in the comments section below.