Comparing Plant and Animal Cells
After this lesson, you should be able to: Identify ways that plant and animal cells are alike and different. Describe the function of structures in cells. Objectives
Some are made up of many cells: Multicellular = made of many cells. Examples - plants and animals. Plant cells and animal cells have some things in common but are also different in some ways. All living things are made of cells
Similarities Both plants and animals have: Cell membranes: a thin layer that surrounds and holds a cell together.
Similarities Both plants and animals have: Their cells are filled with cytoplasm – a gel-like substance containing chemicals that the cell needs.
Similarities Both plants and animals have: Nucleus: the information and control center of the cell. Contains the DNA: chemical that stores the information of the organism, the blue print of the organism. Contains the nucleolus – makes ribosomes.
Similarities Both plants and animals have: Ribosomes: protein builders of the cell
Similarities Both plants and animals have: Mitochondria: Use oxygen to break down food and release energy (cellular respiration happens here).
Similarities Both plants and animals have: Vacuoles: sack that stores food, water, and waste products.
Similarities Both plants and animals have: Endoplasmic reticulum: system of tubes (passage ways) that transport proteins.
Similarities Both plants and animals have: Golgi bodies: packages and sends proteins outside the cell. (the post office of the cell)
Plant cells have: Cell wall: the outer part of the plant cell that provides support and structure to the cell. Animals do not have a cell wall. Differences
Animal cells can have more than one nucleus, plant cells always have only one. Differences
Plant cells have chloroplasts: where photosynthesis happens. Animal cells use mitochondria for energy production. Plants primarily use chloroplasts to produce energy. Remember, plants have mitochondria too.
Differences Animals usually have many small vacuoles. Plants usually have one large vacuole
Animal cells have lysosomes: sack that has chemicals to break down substances like old cell parts and viruses. Differences
Energy that living things need come from the sun. Plants use light energy and turn it into chemical energy. Chemical energy is stored in chemical bonds between atoms of molecules. Cells store and use energy
Plants use light energy, carbon dioxide and water to make oxygen and sugar. Chemical energy is stored between the atoms of the sugar molecule. Molecule: the smallest piece of a substance that has the properties of the substance. Photosynthesis
Energy is released when the bonds are broken. Cells either use energy or stores it for later. Mitochondria in plants and animals use oxygen to release the energy in the chemical bonds of food. Cellular respiration
Cells store energy from food in high-energy ATP molecules. ATP is broken down when the cell needs energy. Adenosine triphosphate
The nucleus is the control center of the cell. Contains DNA, a molecule that has instructions for all of the cells’s activities. Cells store and use information
One activity – putting proteins together. DNA and RNA work together to do this job Making proteins
DNA in a cell’s nucleus determines what kind of cell it is. DNA doubles when a cell divides so that two new cells will get the needed information to carry out all of life’s basic life activites. What kind of cell will it be?