Plant vs. Animal Cells

An in-depth compare and contrast

Did you ever actually take a closer look at cells? They are amazing microscopic machines that live to carry out various complex functions. They have similar and different ways to create and support life. Plant and animal cells, as intriguing as they are, can definitely be similar and unique in many interesting ways because of their detailed structures, functions, and parts.

Plant and animal cells surprisingly resemble one another with their overall structure for survival. Most importantly, they’re both Eukaryotic cells, a very complex cell type that was the second type of cell to ever live. They also have many of the same organelles, including a cell membrane and nucleus, so they also perform some of the same functions.

In addition, their organelles are membrane-bound or surrounded by a protective membrane. Holding the organelles is a gel-like fluid called cytoplasm. Organelles such as mitochondria, an energy-producing cell, and a nucleus, the cell’s brain, float inside it. It also helps the organelles stay in their place because of the fluid’s thickness.

Thus, as the above points illustrate, plant and animal cells are quite the same.

On the other hand, these cells display many particular differences in their composition that make them unique. First of all, plant cells contain two energy-producing organelles, one of them being chloroplasts, an organelle that carries out photosynthesis. However, animal cells lack this feature, resulting in them only having one energy-producing organelle, mitochondria.

Plant cells include a cell wall, giving it an extra layer of protection on top of the cell membrane. The antithesis is that animal cells only have the cell membrane as one layer of protection. Plant cells have one or two large vacuoles, the cell’s storage space, but animal cells have many smaller vacuoles for minimum storage.

In relation to these cells’ control systems, plant cells’ nuclei fall surprisingly to the inner side of the cell, whereas animal cells have stable nuclei in the very middle, supposedly making the cell more organized.

Hence, plant and animal cells go in different directions with their characteristics, and as a result, their overall anatomies are quite divergent.

In conclusion, plant and animal cells are amazing little devices that criss-cross each other with numerous features, leading to the fact that they are comparable and variant at the same time. Their various structured organelles, specialized functions, and precise parts strongly express what they are, what they do, and how they do it.