THE PLANT

CELL

Prepared by Dr. Emelina H. Mandia, DLSU-Manila

 The Discovery of Cell
Cell Theory came about through the works
of seventeenth century scientists who had
invented fairly primitive microscopes.

1665: Englishman Robert Hooke was

the first to use the term “cell”;
his observations under the
microscope are included in his
illustrated book Micrographia.

1668: Dutch microscopist Antonie van

Leeuwenhoek made his own
microscopes (ca. 500) and observed
various types of microscopic
organisms; he is known as the
“FATHER OF MICROSCOPY”
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
M.J. Schleiden Theodore Schwann

Rudolf Virchow

1838: German microscopist Matthias Scheiden found that plants

were composed of cells;
1839: Theodore Schwann found that animals were composed of
cells.
1855: Rudolf Virchow of Germany concluded that cells can only
come from preexisting cells.
The cell theory states:

1. All organisms are composed of one

or more cells.
2. Cells are the basic unit of structure
and function in organisms.
3. All cells come only from other cells.
 Cells are small so they can efficiently
exchange materials with their surroundings.

Surface area relative to the volume

decreases as size of cell increases.
- limits the size of cells
LE 6-7
Surface area increases while
Total volume remains constant

5
1
1

Total surface area

(height x width x 6 150 750
number of sides x
number of boxes)

Total volume
(height x width x length 1 125 125
X number of boxes)

Surface-to-volume
ratio
6 1.2 6
(surface area  volume)
General Cell Types

a. Prokaryotic cells -
Bacteria and Archaea
b. Eukaryotic cells -
Protists, Fungi,
Plants, Animals
Cell structure is diverse but all cells share
common characteristics.

1. Genetic material – in a nucleoid or nucleus

2. Cytoplasm – a semifluid matrix
3. Plasma membrane – a phospholipid bilayer
4. Ribosome for protein synthesis
Prokaryotic
Cell
 Evolution of the eukaryotic cell
Eukaryotes arose from a symbiotic relationship
between various prokaryotes.

• Endosymbiotic hypothesis

• Heterotrophic bacteria became mitochondria.

• Cyanobacteria became chloroplasts.

• Host cell was a large prokaryotic cell.

Evolution of the eukaryotic cell
 Evidences for the
endosymbiotic hypothesis
Mitochondria and chloroplasts

1. Similar to bacteria in both size and structure.

2. Bounded by a double membrane – the outer membrane
may represent the engulfing vesicle, and the inner
membrane from the prokaryote.
3. Each contain a circular DNA and divide by splitting
4. Have their own ribosomes and do produce some proteins
like the prokaryotes
5. Have RNA base sequence suggesting a prokaryotic origin.
 Eukaryotic Cells
• With a membrane-bound nucleus
• With membrane-bound organelles
• Cellular functions compartmentalize within
organelles and the endomembrane system
• possess a cytoskeleton for support and to
maintain cellular structure
Animal cell
Plant cell
Three structures define a plant cell:

a. Cellulosic Cell Wall

b. Plastids
c. Large Central Vacuole
layers of the plant cell wall

Plasma membrane of cell 1

Cell 1 Secondary cell wall of cell 1

Primary cell wall of cell 1

Middle lamella

Primary cell wall of cell 2

Secondary cell wall of cell 2

Plasma membrane of cell 2

Cell 2

Fig. 3-11, p. 56
Primary Wall Secondary Wall

• First wall laid down • Inner wall

• Surrounds • Surrounds cells of
– growing cells secondary tissues
– meristematic cells – Wood, cork
– Cells in succulent tissues
• Composed of • Composed of
– Cellulose
– Cellulose
– Hemicellulose
– Hemicellulose – Pectin
– Pectin – Lignin/suberin
– Glycoprotein
• With plasmodesmata
for exchange of
substances
Plant cell wall provides our dietary fiber…
 Plasmodesmata
[Communication channels between cells]
 Walls
of two
adjacent
plant cells

Vacuole

Plasmodesmata

Layers
of one plant
cell wall

Cytoplasm

Plasma membrane
 Cell walls of
two cells
Cell 1
Plasmodesmata
Desmotubule
Plasma
membranes

Smooth
ER

Cell 2
Fig. 3-12, p. 57
Plastids
Chloroplasts
 PLASTIDS
Plastid 1: Chloroplasts

Hydrilla verticillata
(digman)

•Plant cells may contain 1-300 chloroplasts.

 Chloroplasts
• Chloroplasts are typically 5-10 microns in diameter
• Have their own DNA, RNA, proteins, ATP
• They normally occur around the perimeter of
photosynthetic cells and adjacent to the
intercellular air spaces to maximize CO2 uptake.
• Pigments present include chlorophylls and
carotenoids.
 Chromoplasts
• Commonly found in flowers and fruits
• Contain a diversity of carotenoid pigments [yellow,
orange or red]
• Responsible for flower, fruit and even root coloration
in many species, e.g. carrots and sweet potato tuber
• Functions:
– Serve as attractants for fruit dispersal signaling that fruit is
ripe
– High nutritional value to animals; many birds eat
chromoplast-rich fruits to supply their feathers with
colour.
 Leucoplasts
• Non-pigmented plastids
• Found in organs that are associated with long-
term storage such as roots and seeds
• Types:
1. Amyloplasts – for synthesis and storage of starch
• May be present in statocytes/statolith in the root and be
involved in gravity detection
• capable of re-differentiating into other plastid types, e.g. in
the re-greening of potato tubers where cell layers deep
within the tuber undergo chloroplast formation

2. Proteinoplasts – protein synthesis and storage

3. Elaioplasts – lipid synthesis and storage

(Left) Amyloplasts (Starch Grains)
(Right) Elaioplast
 Central vacuole Vacuole
Cytosol • Largest, fluid-filled organelle with single-
membrane [tonoplast]
Tonoplast
• Meristematic cells contain numerous
Nucleus Central
vacuole
small provacuoles which eventually fuse,
Cell wall forming a large acidic central vacuole
Chloroplast
5 µm

• Functions:
– participate in growth through regulation of turgor
• Turgid vacuole makes up 50-90% of cell volume
– maintain homeostasis
– function as storage organelle (of proteins in seeds, malic acid in
CAM pathway, anthocyanin pigment)
– sequester toxic materials (secondary metabolites, crystals)
– contain both anti-fungal enzymes and anti-herbivory compounds
– degrade old organelles (autophagy)
– participate in programmed cell death via autolysis.
 Vacuole
with anthocyanin pigment

Vacuole
 Crystals
• Calcium oxalate
– Raphides, prismatic, druse,
rosette, sand

• Calcium
carbonate
– cystolith
 Nucleus
• a double-membraned organelle containing nuclear genes
aligned on chromosomes
• acts as an organizer of cytoplasmic and nuclear activities during
the cell cycle.
• helps in shuttling of regulatory factors & gene products via
nuclear pores
• aids production of mRNAs and ribosomes
• organizes the uncoiling of DNA to replicate key genes.
• It thus coordinates innumerable metabolic pathways to achieve
growth, division and differentiation of the cell, and stores the
genetic material of the cell in the form of multiple, linear
chromosomes
39
The nucleus and the nuclear envelope
 Nucleolus

• The densest region of chromatin within the

nucleus

• Responsible for the synthesis of ribosomes

• The nucleus may contain multiple nucleoli, but

within each species the number of nucleoli
appears to be fixed.
 Ribosomes
• the site of protein synthesis in the cell
• composed of ribosomal RNA and proteins
• found within the cytosol of the cytoplasm or
attached to the endoplasmic reticulum.

42
 The Plant Endo-membrane System
• A system of interconnected membranes that
• fills the cell interior
• connects the cell boundary with the double membraned
organelles - nucleus, plastids and mitochondria.

• The phospholipid bilayer forms the basis for both outer and
internal membranes.

• The connectivity of the Plasma Membrane with cytomembranes

also allow it to be considered a part of the endomembrane
system.

• The endomembrane system organizes the eukaryotic cell into

numerous specialized functional domains, that are recognized as
different organelles.
Major endomembrane derived
organelles of the plant cell

1. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER)

2. Golgi bodies
3. Peroxisomes
4. Vacuoles
5. Endosomes
6. Autophagosomes
7. Outer Nuclear Envelope
The Plant Endomembrane System

• http://www.illuminatedcell.com/cytomembranes.html
 Mitochondria
- found in all eukaryotic cells.

- bounded by a double membrane surrounding

fluid-filled matrix.

- inner membranes (cristae) house protein

complexes that produce ATP.

- matrix contains enzymes that break down

carbohydrates
 Microbodies - single-membrane vesicles
containing enzymes
a. Peroxisomes
- contain oxidase that catalyzes H2O2 production
- produce catalase that breaks down H2O2
- found in leaves

b. Glyoxysomes
- with enzymes for converting fats to carbohydrates
- found in germinating oil-bearing seeds and seedlings
- rarely found in animals cells
Microbody:
Peroxisome
 Cytoskeleton
Cytoskeleton fibers include:

1. actin filaments – responsible for cellular

contractions, crawling, “pinching”
2. microtubules – provide organization to the
cell and move materials within the cell
3. intermediate filaments – provide structural
stability
Cytoskeleton
Cyclosis (=circular streaming movement of
organelles and other particles around central
vacuole) is guided by actin filaments and
microtubules of the cytoskeleton

Cytoskeletons also enhance exchange of

materials among organelles, between
membranes and organelles and even between
cells.
Video: Cytoplasmic Streaming

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Figure 6.26c

Chloroplast 30 µm
(c) Cytoplasmic streaming in
plant cells

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Video: Movement of Organelles In Vitro

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Flagella
- with a 9 + 2
pattern of
microtubules and
are involved in cell
movement.

- occur only in the

sperm cells of
lower vascular
and non-vascular
plants.
Figure 6.24b

Plasma
0.1 μm Outer microtubule membrane
doublet
Motor proteins
(dyneins)
Central
microtubule
Radial spoke
Cross-linking
proteins between
(b) Cross section of outer doublets
motile cilium

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Video: Paramecium Cilia

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BioFlix: Tour of a Plant Cell

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BioFlix: Tour of an Animal Cell

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Plasma Membrane
The plasma membrane separates the internal
environment of the cell from its surroundings.

The plasma membrane is a phospholipid

bilayer with embedded proteins.
Figure 7.1

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Video: Structure of the Cell Membrane

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Figure 7.2

Hydrophilic head

WATER

WATER

Hydrophobic tail

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The plasma membrane has a
fluid consistency and a mosaic
pattern of embedded proteins.

FLUID- MOSAIC MODEL

The Fluidity of Membranes

a) Phospholipids in the plasma membrane can move

within the bilayer
b) Most of the lipids, and some proteins, drift laterally
c) Rarely, a lipid may flip-flop transversely across
the membrane

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Figure 7.3

Fibers of extra-
cellular matrix (ECM)

Glyco-
Carbohydrate Glycolipid
protein
EXTRACELLULAR
SIDE OF
MEMBRANE

Cholesterol
Microfilaments Peripheral
of cytoskeleton proteins Integral
protein CYTOPLASMIC
SIDE OF
MEMBRANE

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Membrane Proteins and Their Functions

a) A membrane is a collage of different proteins, often

grouped together, embedded in the fluid matrix of the
lipid bilayer
b) Proteins determine most of the membrane’s specific
functions

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 a) Peripheral proteins are bound to the surface of the
membrane
b) Integral proteins penetrate the hydrophobic core
c) Integral proteins that span the membrane are called
transmembrane proteins
d) The hydrophobic regions of an integral protein consist
of one or more stretches of nonpolar
amino acids, often coiled into alpha helices

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Figure 7.6

N-terminus EXTRACELLULAR
SIDE

 helix
CYTOPLASMIC
C-terminus SIDE

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 a) Six major functions of membrane proteins
a)Transport
b)Enzymatic activity
c)Signal transduction
d)Cell-cell recognition
e)Intercellular joining
f) Attachment to the cytoskeleton and extracellular matrix
(ECM)

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Figure 7.7
Signaling
molecule
Receptor
Enzymes

ATP
Signal transduction
(a) Transport (b) Enzymatic (c) Signal
activity transduction

Glyco-
protein

(d) Cell-cell (e) Intercellular (f) Attachment to

recognition joining the cytoskeleton
and extracellular
matrix (ECM)
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Transport Proteins

a) Transport proteins allow passage of hydrophilic

substances across the membrane
b) Some transport proteins, called channel proteins,
have a hydrophilic channel that certain molecules or
ions can use as a tunnel
c) Channel proteins called aquaporins facilitate the
passage of water

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 a) Other transport proteins, called carrier proteins, bind
to molecules and change shape to shuttle them
across the membrane
b) A transport protein is specific for the substance
it moves

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The Role of Membrane Carbohydrates in Cell-Cell
Recognition

a) Cells recognize each other by binding to molecules,

often containing carbohydrates, on the extracellular
surface of the plasma membrane
b) Membrane carbohydrates may be covalently bonded
to lipids (forming glycolipids) or more commonly to
proteins (forming glycoproteins)
c) Carbohydrates on the external side of the plasma
membrane vary among species, individuals, and even
cell types in an individual

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The Permeability of the Plasma Membrane

The plasma membrane is differentially

permeable.

Macromolecules cannot pass through

because of size, and tiny charged
molecules do not pass through the
nonpolar interior of the membrane.

Small, uncharged molecules pass through

the membrane, following their
concentration gradient.
How molecules cross the plasma membrane
Movement of materials across a membrane
may be passive or active.

Passive transport does not use chemical

energy; diffusion and facilitated transport are
both passive.

Active transport requires chemical energy

and usually a carrier protein.

Exocytosis and endocytosis transport

macromolecules across plasma membranes
using vesicle formation, which requires
energy.
Passive transport is diffusion of a substance across a
membrane with no energy investment

a) Diffusion is the tendency for molecules to spread out

evenly into the available space
b) Although each molecule moves randomly, diffusion of
a population of molecules may be directional
c) At dynamic equilibrium, as many molecules cross the
membrane in one direction as in the other

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Figure 7.10
Molecules of dye Membrane (cross section)

WATER

Net diffusion Net diffusion Equilibrium

(a) Diffusion of one solute

Net diffusion Net diffusion Equilibrium

Net diffusion Net diffusion Equilibrium

(b) Diffusion of two solutes

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Animation: Diffusion

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Animation: Membrane Selectivity

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 a) Substances diffuse down their concentration
gradient, the region along which the density of a
chemical substance increases or decreases
b) No work must be done to move substances down the
concentration gradient
c) The diffusion of a substance across a biological
membrane is passive transport because no energy
is expended by the cell to make it happen

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Effects of Osmosis on Water Balance

a) Osmosis is the diffusion of water across a selectively

permeable membrane
b) Water diffuses across a membrane from the region of
lower solute concentration to the region of higher
solute concentration until the solute concentration is
equal on both sides

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Figure 7.11
Lower concentration Higher concentration More similar
of solute (sugar) of solute concentrations of solute

Sugar H2O
molecule

Selectively
permeable
membrane

Osmosis
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Figure 7.11a

Selectively
Water permeable
molecules can membrane
pass through
pores, but sugar Water molecules
molecules cluster around
cannot. sugar molecules.

This side has

This side has
fewer solute
more solute
molecules,
molecules,
more free
fewer free
water molecules. Osmosis water molecules.

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Animation: Osmosis

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Water Balance of Cells Without Cell Walls

a) Tonicity is the ability of a surrounding solution to

cause a cell to gain or lose water
b) Isotonic solution: Solute concentration is the same
as that inside the cell; no net water movement across
the plasma membrane
c) Hypertonic solution: Solute concentration is greater
than that inside the cell; cell loses water
d) Hypotonic solution: Solute concentration is less than
that inside the cell; cell gains water

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 a) Hypertonic or hypotonic environments create osmotic
problems for organisms
b) Osmoregulation, the control of solute concentrations
and water balance, is a necessary adaptation for life
in such environments
c) The protist Paramecium, which is hypertonic to its
pond water environment, has a contractile vacuole
that acts as a pump

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Water Balance of Cells with Cell Walls

a) Cell walls help maintain water balance

b) A plant cell in a hypotonic solution swells until the wall
opposes uptake; the cell is now turgid (firm)
c) If a plant cell and its surroundings are isotonic, there
is no net movement of water into the cell;
the cell becomes flaccid (limp)

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 a) In a hypertonic environment, plant cells lose water
b) The membrane pulls away from the cell wall causing
the plant to wilt, a usually lethal effect called
plasmolysis

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Osmosis in plant and animal cells
Video: Turgid Elodea

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Video: Plasmolysis

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Osmotic Terminology
 Turgor
Pressure
Transport by Carrier Proteins

Some biologically useful molecules pass

through the plasma membrane because of
channel proteins and carrier proteins that span
the membrane.

Carrier proteins are specific and combine with

only a certain type of molecule.

Facilitated transport and active transport both

require carrier proteins.
Facilitated Diffusion: Passive Transport Aided by
Proteins

a) In facilitated diffusion, transport proteins speed the

passive movement of molecules across the plasma
membrane
b) Transport proteins include channel proteins and
carrier proteins

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 a) Channel proteins provide corridors that allow a
specific molecule or ion to cross the membrane
b) Aquaporins facilitate the diffusion of water
c) Ion channels facilitate the diffusion of ions
a)Some ion channels, called gated channels, open or
close in response to a stimulus

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Figure 7.14
EXTRACELLULAR
FLUID

(a) A channel
protein

Channel protein Solute

CYTOPLASM

Carrier protein Solute

(b) A carrier protein

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Active transport

During active transport, ions or molecules

are moved across the membrane against
the concentration gradient – from an area
of lower to higher concentration.

Energy in the form of ATP is required for

the carrier protein to combine with the
transported molecule.
Active transport
Animation: Active Transport

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Figure 7.16

Passive transport Active transport

Diffusion Facilitated diffusion ATP

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Animation: Exocytosis and Endocytosis Introduction

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Exocytosis
During exocytosis, vesicles fuse with the plasma membrane for
secretion and assembly of proteins in the cell membrane.

Cell wall precursor like polysaccharides and pectins are transported into the
lumen of exocytotic Golgi vesicles which contain cellulose synthase in their
membrane. After the fusion of the vesicles, the cellulose synthase is
incorporated into the plasma membrane and the cell wall matrix precursors are
deposited into the existing cell wall.
Endocytosis

During endocytosis, cells take in substances by

invaginating a portion of the plasma membrane,
and forming a vesicle around the substance.

Endocytosis occurs as:

Phagocytosis – large particles

Pinocytosis – small particles
Receptor-mediated endocytosis – specific particles
Figure 7.19

Receptor-Mediated
Phagocytosis Pinocytosis Endocytosis
EXTRACELLULAR
FLUID Solutes

Pseudopodium
Receptor
Plasma
membrane
Coat
protein
“Food”
Coated
or
pit
other
particle

Coated
vesicle
Food
vacuole

CYTOPLASM

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BioFlix: Membrane Transport

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End of Lecture