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Plant cell
Plant cells are quite different from the cells of the other eukaryotic kingdoms' organisms. Their distinctive features include:
Additional recommended knowledgeCell typesParenchyma cells - These cells are the biochemistry machines of the plant. They are alive at maturity and are specialized in any number of structural and biochemical ways. Other than support functions, this cell type is the basis for all plant structure and function. Parenchyma cells have thin primary walls, and highly functional cytoplasm. The cells are alive at maturity and are responsible for a wide range of biochemical function. For example, other than xylem in vascular bundles, the leaf is composed of parenchyma cells. Some, as in the epidermis, are specialized for light penetration, regulating gas exchange, or anti-herbivory physiology. Other cells, as in the mesophyll, are specialized for photosynthesis or phloem loading.
The design and function is to build and maintain the special unevenly thick primary cell wall. The cells are also typically quite elongate. The role of this cell type is to support the plant in areas still growing in length. The primary wall lacks lignin that would make it brittle, so this cell type provides what could be called plastic support. Support that can hold a young stem or petiole into the air, but in cells that can be stretched as the cells around them elongate. Stretchable support (without elastic snap-back) is a good way to describe what collenchyma does. Parts of the strings in celery are collenchyma.
Functions for sclerenchyma cells include discouraging herbivory (hard cells that rip open digestive passages in small insect larval stages, hard cells forming a pit wall in a peach fruit), support (the wood in a tree trunk, fibers in large herbs), and conduction (hollow cells lined end-to-end in xylem with cytoplasm and end walls missing).Plant cells are usually oblong and all of then have a necleus. Tissue types
These three major classes of cells can then differentiate to form the tissue structures of roots, stems, and leaves. Plants have these types of tissues, and they have similar locations within all species of plants. However, the amount of these tissues will vary for different plant species. Parts
Categories: Plant physiology | Eukaryotic cells | Plant cells |
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Plant_cell". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia. |