The smallest living matter that is part of a living being is the cell, a component that, by itself, is capable of performing all the basic functions of a living being: breathing, producing energy, growing, reproducing, and so on. Thus, it is the basic unit of the structure of any living being, although, with the naked eye, they cannot be seen since they are very small in size, only visible by the use of a microscope. exist two types of cells, plant and animal, which contain a nucleus and both share both similarities and differences. At OneHowTo we will focus on what is the difference between animal and plant cell knowing, first, the characteristics of each one and comparing them, later, so that we can observe how they differ.
What is an animal cell?
We start by talking about the animal cell to understand what it is and what it contains inside. First we have to take into account that all animals (and people too, let’s not forget, we are animals) are created by multicellular organisms that have a main cell, the eukaryotic.
But, in addition to this, we contain millions of different cells that make up the body, such as neurons, sperm, eggs and a large number of other internal mechanisms are animal cells. They have a smaller diameter than vegetables and do not have a cell wall or chloroplasts.
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What is a plant cell?
Now we will focus on defining what is a plant cell in order, thus, to be able to understand the difference that there is with respect to the animal. This type of cell is the one found within the plant kingdom, it is a eukaryotic cell that, like the animal, has its own nucleus, a cytoplasm and a membrane.
What happens is that this type of plant cell has parts that are unique and that have to do with the photosynthesis process, something that only plants have the ability to do. This process is vital for nature since, thanks to it, plants release the oxygen that is in our environment and that allows us, humans, to breathe.
The main differences between the animal and plant cell
Now that we know what each of these cells are, let’s get down to business and answer your question about what is the difference between animal and plant cell. Attentive!
- Animal cells do NOT have a cell wall, an element that gives more rigidity to the animals that do have this component. You can check this difference quickly: when a plant dies, it remains rigid until after a certain time that it loses its rigidity; the reason for this is that it has these walls that give it a more rigid material.
- Another of the basic differences between animal and plant cell is that the latter contain chloroplasts, an element that allows it to synthesize sugars thanks to carbon dioxide, water and sunlight. This process is known as photosynthesis and it is something that is unique to the plant kingdom.
- The plant cell has only a fluid-filled vacuole and this occupies most of its interior; However, the animal cell has different vacuoles of a smaller size that are distributed throughout its interior.
- Another difference between the animal and plant cells is that the latter can reproduce individually, thus following asexual reproduction; instead, animals need sexual reproduction in order to create new living beings.
- In the plant cell, the grasslands are of vital importance, without them they could not survive; in animals, on the other hand, this cellular component does not even exist.
- The way in which an animal cell has to receive nutrients is heterotrophic while plant cells are autotrophic.
- The shape of a plant cell is similar to a prism, on the other hand, those of animals can have multiple shapes and very different from each other: they can be flat, oval, star-shaped, and so on.
These are the main differences between a plant cell and an animal cell.
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