Animal Cell vs. Plant Cell

What they have in common

Animal and plant cells are both eukaryotic: their DNA is held inside a nucleus, and they contain membrane-bound organelles. Both have a cell membrane, cytoplasm, anucleus, mitochondria for respiration, ribosomes for making proteins, endoplasmic reticulum and a Golgi apparatus.

The key differences

• Cell wall: plant cells have a rigid cellulose wall; animal cells do not.
• Chloroplasts: many plant cells contain chloroplasts for photosynthesis; animal cells never do.
• Vacuole: plant cells have a large, permanent central vacuole; animal cells have only small, temporary ones.
• Shape: plant cells are usually regular and box-like; animal cells vary widely in shape.
• Food storage: plants store starch; animals store glycogen and fat.
• Centrioles and lysosomes: typical of animal cells and absent from most plant cells.

Comparison table

Why the differences exist

The differences match the two lifestyles. Plants are producers: they stay in one place and make their own food, so they need chloroplasts and a strong wall and turgid vacuole to hold them up toward the light without a skeleton. Animals are consumers: they eat other organisms and many move around, so their cells need no chloroplasts and benefit from flexible membranes that allow varied shapes, such as long nerve cells or contracting muscle cells.

Seeing cells under a microscope

With a school light microscope you can see the nucleus, cytoplasm, membrane, and in plant cells the wall, vacuole and chloroplasts. Onion epidermis cells (which have no chloroplasts, because they grow underground) and human cheek cells are classic examples. Smaller organelles such as ribosomes and the details of mitochondria can only be seen with an electron microscope.

Real-world applications

• Food and materials: the cellulose walls of plant cells give us cotton, paper and timber. Humans cannot digest cellulose, which is why it passes through the gut as dietary fibre.
• Medicine: animal cells have no wall to resist water pressure, so they burst in pure water. That is why fluids given through a drip are isotonic saline rather than plain water.
• Gardening and farming: a watered plant stands upright because its full vacuoles press the cells against their walls (turgor). When water runs short, the cells go limp and the plant wilts.
• Biotechnology: to insert genes into plant cells, scientists sometimes dissolve the cell wall with enzymes, leaving a wall-less “protoplast” that behaves more like an animal cell.
• Laboratory work: students and technicians identify tissue samples under the microscope by exactly the features compared here: a wall, chloroplasts and a large vacuole point to a plant cell.

Interesting facts

• The word “cell” comes from Robert Hooke, who in 1665 looked at cork through an early microscope and saw tiny empty boxes: the walls of dead plant cells.
• The central vacuole of a mature plant cell can take up most of the cell’s volume, pushing the cytoplasm into a thin layer against the wall.

Key terms

Eukaryotic

Having a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles.

Autotroph and heterotroph

An organism that makes its own food (such as a plant) and one that must eat other organisms (such as an animal).

Turgor

Pressure of a plant cell’s contents against its wall.

Common misconceptions

• “Plant cells don’t have mitochondria because they have chloroplasts.” They have both.
• “All plant cells are green.” Root and storage cells usually lack chloroplasts.
• “Animal cells have a cell wall too.” Only plants, fungi and bacteria have walls (made of different materials).

Key takeaways

• Both cell types share the core eukaryotic organelles.
• Plant cells add a cell wall, chloroplasts and a large central vacuole.
• Animal cells have centrioles and store glycogen rather than starch.
• The differences reflect how plants and animals obtain food and support themselves.

Model note: diagrams are simplified and not to scale; real cells contain many more organelles of each type.