The diagram given below represents a plant cell after being placed in a strong sugar solution. Study the diagram and answer the questions that follow: The diagram given below represents a plant cell after being placed in a strong sugar solution. Study the diagram and answer the questions that follow:
State any two features of the above plant cell which is not present in animal cells.
Topic: Plant cell features
Answer
- A rigid CELL WALL made of cellulose, outside the plasma membrane.
- A LARGE CENTRAL VACUOLE filled with cell sap.
(Also acceptable: the presence of plastids such as chloroplasts.)
Two features, and both must be things an animal cell genuinely LACKS.
The features unique to each kind of cell, worth holding as a pair: PLANT ONLY — cell wall, plastids (chloroplasts), large central vacuole ANIMAL ONLY — centrioles (and therefore the aster during division)
THE CELL WALL EXPLAINS THIS VERY DIAGRAM: because the wall is rigid, the cell keeps its shape even as the protoplasm shrinks away inside it. An ANIMAL cell in the same strong solution would simply shrivel, since it has no wall to hold its outline — and in pure water it would BURST, where a plant cell merely becomes turgid.