CellsCells are the basic unit of all life. Even though they are the smallestunit of life they are highly complex. Each cell has enough parts to it topractically survive on its own. There are two types of cells; the plant cell andthe animal cell. These two cells do not vary intensely, but there are somemajor factors that separate them completely.
Animal cells are highly organized. The many parts that make up the cellwork in synch with each other. These parts are called organelles. The mostimportant organelle in the cell is the nucleus. The nucleus holds all of theblueprint information for the cell.
The DNA of a cell is found in the nucleusalong with RNA. The nucleus is surrounded by two membranes due to the need tobe highly selective with materials that enter the cell’s nucleus. The cellitself is surrounded by a membrane. In between the membrane of the nucleus andthe cell membrane is cytoplasm. It is in the cytoplasm where all of the otherorganelles are stored.
There are six main organelles in the cytoplasm. First,the mitochondria, which provides energy to the cell through ATP and respiration. Then there is the endoplasmic reticulum which separates parts of the cell. Thenthere is the Golgi apparatus which is used for sorting, storing, and secretionfor the cell. Next are lysosomes, which hydrolyze macromolecules.
Then thereare centrioles that play a major role in cell division. And lastly there arevacuoles which have a variety of storage functions. The plant cell is similar in most ways. The only really big differencesbetween the plant cell and the animal cell are as follows.
The first is theouter membrane. The plant cell has a cell wall that highly acts as support tothe cell, where the animal cell has a more flexible, softer outer membrane. Also in the plant cell are chloroplasts, which are not in the animal cell. Chloroplasts carry out photosynthesis which is the plants ability to make it’sown food.
This also accounts for the large central vacuole in the plant cell. It is used for storage. Science
