Cell structures, functions and their interrelationships
A cell is defined as the functional unit of an organism. Cells are found in the bodies of all living organism. A typical cell is characterized by three parts; the cell membrane, nucleus and cytoplasm.
Cell membrane
It separates materials outside and the materials inside the cell. The purpose of the cell membrane is to selectively allow passage of materials in and outside the cell (Axtell & Michael P.145). It is characterized by tiny poles in its structure. Only small sized molecules such as the liquid molecules can pass through the cell membranes with the large particles being blocked. Cell membrane is a double membrane made of phospholipid layer sandwiched between two protein layers. The purpose of the protein layer is to detect temperature and PH changes.
Nucleus
This is the control center of the cell. It made of fluid called nucleoplasm which is enclosed by nuclear membrane. It is made up of chromatin materials that contains DNA and nucleolus which controls all activities of the cell. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Cytoplasm
It is gel like fluid found inside the cell. It is medium for chemical reactions. It contains cytoplasm organelles such as mitochondrion, Golgi apparatus and lysosomes.
Differences between plant and animal cells
Shape
Plant cells have a regular shape due to the strength of cellulose material composing the cell wall. Animal cells are irregular in shape. This is because animal cells do not have a cellulose cell wall responsible for strengthening (Hantke P. 946).
Cell wall
Plants are made up of cellulose cell wall which is fully permeable while animal cells lack cell wall but instead have a cell membrane which is semi-permeable.
Vacuoles
These are cell organelles which contains sugars and salts for cell turgidity. They are found in plant cells rather than in animal cells. The vacuole of the plant cell helps in the store organic nutrients (Eric et. al, P.34).
Chloroplasts
Plants have chloroplasts while animal cells lack chloroplasts. These cell organelles contain chlorophyll responsible for photosynthesis process. Animal cells lack chloroplasts.
Works cited
Axtell, Michael J. “Classification and comparison of small RNAs from plants.” Annual review of plant biology 64 (2013): 137-159.
Eric J. Simon, Jean L. Dickey, Jane B. Reece, Kelly A. Hogan. Campbell Essential Biology plus Mastering Biology. Benjamin- Cummings Publishing Company, (2015): 1-544
Hantke, Max F., et al. “High-throughput imaging of heterogeneous cell organelles with an X-ray laser.” Nature photonics 8.12 (2014): 943-949.