Plant Cells

• Plant cells can use light to carry out photosynthesis, unlike animal cells
• Plant cells

  • Have a regular shape, unlike animal cells which can easily change their shape
  • Are packed full of green structures
• Nucleus


  Contains genetic material
• Cytoplasm


  Where chemical reactions take place
• Cell membrane


  Controls which molecules enter and leave the cell
• Mitochondria


  Carry out aerobic respiration
• Ribosomes


  Site of protein synthesis
• Plant cells

  • Have three structures that animal cells do not: chloroplasts, cell wall, and large permanent vacuole
• Chloroplasts


  Contain chlorophyll and are sites of photosynthesis
• Cell wall

  Made from cellulose, strengthens the cell
• Vacuole


  Large, permanent, filled with cell sap, helps give the plant cell its shape
• Algae are very simple forms of plant life and also have a cellulose cell wall
• Plant and algal cells also have a cell wall made of cellulose, which strengthens the cell
• chlorophyll is the pigment that absorbs light energy in the chloroplasts