Plants and Animals

Plants and Animals Eukaryotic cells are broken into a few categories However the main two types of cells that we are concerned with are plants and animals We interact with plants and animals more often than other types of cells These two cells are similar to each other but very different from prokaryotes

Plants and Animals Plants and animal cells have fundamental differences The differences between plant and animal cells create the differences in the organisms that we see

Animal Cells Lets start with what we are familiar Animal cells can be unicellular or multicellular They are versatile cells that can move and adapt to new environments

Animal Cells Animal cells cannot produce their own food Food must come from an outside source This means that if animal cells are separated from a food source for an extended period of time, they will die

Animal Cells Almost all of the structures of animal cells are in plant cells The few exceptions are lysosomes* and centrioles Cillia and flagella are much more common in animals than plants

Plant Cells A plant cell is a rigid and fixed cell that has a cell wall Plant cells can be unicellular or multicellular Most plant cells are finely tuned to their environment

Plant Cells Most plant cells have the ability to create their own food The most common way that plant cells will create their own food is through photosynthesis Photosynthesis is the process that entails plants taking in sunlight, water and carbon dioxide and creating sugars and oxygen

Plant Cells Plant cells perform photosynthesis in a structure called the chloroplast The chloroplast contains the pigments chlorophyll Chlorophyll captures light energy that the chloroplast can use to create sugars

Plant Cells Plant cells have a few other structures that are not seen in animal cells Cell walls surround, protect and support a plant cell Made of cellulose Plasmodesmata are small openings in that cell wall that allow plants to share resources within an organism

Plant Cells A large central vacuole is also a unique feature to a plant It provides a storage area for water and aqueous solutions It also provides an outward pressure to the cell wall which supports the plant The outward pressure is called Turgor pressure