September 23, 2013

Plant and Animal Cells

Reading: Chapter 5

Last march of the Ents

 Last time
The Cell Theory
The size of cells is limited by the surface
area/volume ratio
Prokaryotic cells (Bacteria and Archaea) are simple:
membrane surrounding cytoplasm
DNA and metabolic machinery free in the
cytoplasm
No nucleus or internal organelles
Single circular strand of DNA
Endosymbiotic organelles
Originated from bacteria
Catalyze respiration and photosynthesis
Differences Between Plant
and Animal Cells
 Differences Between Plant
and Animal Cells
Plant cells have a cell wall
Plant cells have vacuoles
Plant cells have plastids (chloroplasts)

Animal cells have a sodium pump in the cell

membrane

Plant and animal cells both have mitochondria, a

nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi
apparatus, lysosomes and ribosomes
 Strategies for Dealing With
Osmosis
High concentrations of
molecules in cytoplasm
causes water to diffuse into
cells (osmosis)
Plant cells have cell walls to
support the cell membrane
and keep cells from swelling
Animal cells have a sodium
pump to remove sodium from
cytoplasm and balance
osmotic pressure
If the sodium concentration in a cell is high,
osmosis will cause

A) water to flow into the cell

B) water to flow out of the cell
C) sodium to move out of the cell
D) sodium to move into the cell
The sodium pump allows animal cells to avoid
swelling because of osmosis by

A) pumping sodium into the cell

B) pumping sodium out of the cell
C) pumping sodium into the central vacuole
D) pumping water out of the cell
E) pumping water into the nucleus
 Cell Wall
Primary cell
walls are flexible
and are formed
when the cell is
still growing.
Secondary cell
walls are more
rigid and
stronger
 Extracellular Matrix
Enables
animal cells to
sense their
environment
Mediates cell-
to-cell
adhesion
Carries cell
identity
markers
Cell-Cell Junctions
Tight junctions
Adhesive
junctions
Communicating
junctions
 Tight Junctions
In epithelia (e.g.
lining of the
digestive tract),
cells are organized
in a sheet or layer

Tight junctions prevent material from passing

between cells across the epithelium
Material must cross the epithelium by passing
through the cells, allowing for selective
transport
 Adhesive Junction
Cadherins
bind cells to
cells
Integrins bind
cells to
extracellular
matrix

Connections to intracellular cytoskeleton allow

cells to pull on their surroundings
 Adhesive Junctions

Integrins bind to Cadherins join cells

extracellular matrix
 Communicating Junctions
Gap junctions in
animals
Plasmodesmata
in plants
Allow ions and
small molecules
to pass but not
macromolecules
Gap junctions can close to isolate a cell when it is
damaged
Frequently provide electrical connectivity (ion
currents) between cells
Plasmodesmata
Communicating
junctions in plants
Allow both
cytoplasm and
endoplasmic
reticulum to
exchange material
between cells
 Central
Vacuole
a repository for
storing nutrients
and waste
products in plant
cells
adds volume
without requiring
greater metabolism
 Differences Between Plants
and Animals
Plants require more surface area (needed for
photosynthesis)
Plants have less energy available for metabolism
Plants have cell walls instead of a sodium pump to control
osmosis
Plants and their constituent parts cannot move
Plants have a large internal vacuole to occupy space without
using energy
In large plants, much of the interior is devoid of living cells
Fluids are moved by capillary action and transpiration rather
than by pumps
 Differences Between Plants
and Animals
Animals require more energy to control osmosis
The lack of a cell wall allows animal cells to move
Cell movement permits movement of the animal
as well as its parts (e.g., the heart). Fluids and
gases can be delivered to tissues by pumping
rather than diffusion
Cell movement also permits more complex
developmental processes
 Comparison of Prokaryote,
Table 4.3 Animal and Plant Cells
 Function of the Nucleus

The giant algal cell Acetabularia

These algal cells

have a cap, a stalk
and a foot or base.
 Acetabularia

If you cut the stalk,

one part withers
and dies; the other
regenerates a
complete cell.
Which part survives
(cap or foot)?
Hint: the nucleus
is in the foot.
 Acetabularia
You can transplant
caps onto other feet
and they will survive.
If you transplant a cap
from one species onto
the foot of another
species, what will
happen?
 Acetabularia
In practice, you must cut
off the cap to see what
happens.
Often, the first cap to
regrow is the cap of the
cap species.
If you cut this cap off, the
second cap to regrow is
the cap of the foot
species.
Why does this happen?
 Acetabularia
The Central Dogma describes information flow in
cells
DNA RNA Protein
DNA RNA occurs in the nucleus
RNA Protein occurs in the endoplasmic
reticulum or cytoplasm
RNA in the original stalk lasts long enough to
make the cap of the original cap species
By the time this first cap is removed, the original
RNA is gone and so the cap is rebuilt using RNA
from the new nucleus
 Joachim Hammerling
Joachim Hammerling (1901-1980) was a
German botanist who did these
experiments in the 1930s and 1940s.
He worked first in Berlin and later at the
Max Planck Institt in Wilhelmshaven on
the North Sea.
These experiments were instrumental in
establishing the role of the nucleus and
DNA in determining cell characteristics
 Function of the
Nucleus
The nuclear pore allows
proteins to enter and RNA to
leave the nucleus

The nucleolus is not a

structure, just a region that
stains darkly because a lot of
RNA is being made there.
RNA can pass through

A) plasmodesmata
B) a tight junction
C) a nuclear pore
D) a gap junction
E) an adhesive junction
The structure labeled X is

A) The nucleus
B) A chloroplast
C) A mitochondrion
D) A central vacuole
E) Cytoskeleton
X
 Summary
Differences between plant and animal cells:
Plant cells have plastids, vacuoles and a cell wall but not a
sodium pump
Extracellular structures
Plants have a cell wall
Animals have an extracellular matrix
Material may exchange between cells through
communicating junctions: plasmodesmata in plants and gap
junctions in animals
Tight junctions prevent material from moving between cells
in animal epithelia
Adhesive junctions hold cells together and bind cells to the
extracellular matrix
Functions of the nucleus:
The nucleus holds DNA divided into chromosomes.
The nuclear pore allows proteins to enter and RNA to leave
the nucleus
 Next Time

The Structure of Eukaryotic Cells

Reading: Chapter 4