Plant cells are the cells present in green plants, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Their distinctive features include primary cell walls containing cellulose, hemicelluloses and pectin, the presence of plastids with the capability to perform photosynthesis and store starch, a large vacuole that regulates turgor pressure, the absence of flagella or centrioles, except in the gametes, and a unique method of cell division involving the formation of a cell plate or phragmoplast that separates the new daughter cells.
Plant cells have cell walls, constructed outside the cell membrane and composed of cellulose, hemicelluloses, and pectin. Their composition contrasts with the cell walls of fungi, which are made of chitin, of bacteria, which are made of peptidoglycan and of archaea, which are made of pseudopeptidoglycan. In many cases lignin or suberin are secreted by the protoplast as secondary wall layers inside the primary cell wall. Cutin is secreted outside the primary cell wall and into the outer layers of the secondary cell wall of the epidermal cells of leaves, stems and other above-ground organs to form the plant cuticle. Cell walls perform many essential functions. They provide shape to form the tissue and organs of the plant, and play an important role in intercellular communication and plant-microbe interactions. The cell wall is flexibility during growth and has small pores called plasmodesmata that allows the exchange of nutrients and hormones between cells.
Many types of plant cells contain a large central vacuole, a water-filled volume enclosed by a membrane known as the tonoplast that maintains the cell's turgor, controls movement of molecules between the cytosol and sap, stores useful material such as phosphorus and nitrogen and digests waste proteins and organelles.
Specialized cell-to-cell communication pathways known as plasmodesmata, occur in the form of pores in the primary cell wall through which the plasmalemma and endoplasmic reticulum of adjacent cells are continuous.
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
The goal of this course is to provide an overview on recent developments in the design and synthesis of fluorescent and bioluminescent probes for applications in basic research and medicine. Through t
The presentation of tree growth and formation of wood anatomical structures, linked to the description of specific physical and mechanical properties, makes it possible to understand the different for
Arabidopsis thaliana, the thale cress, mouse-ear cress or arabidopsis, is a small plant from the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to Eurasia and Africa. Commonly found along the shoulders of roads and in disturbed land, it is generally considered a weed. A winter annual with a relatively short lifecycle, A. thaliana is a popular model organism in plant biology and genetics. For a complex multicellular eukaryote, A. thaliana has a relatively small genome of around 135 megabase pairs.
A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, flower, and fruit collectively form the shoot system. In most leaves, the primary photosynthetic tissue is the palisade mesophyll and is located on the upper side of the blade or lamina of the leaf but in some species, including the mature foliage of Eucalyptus, palisade mesophyll is present on both sides and the leaves are said to be isobilateral.
A vacuole (ˈvækjuːoʊl) is a membrane-bound organelle which is present in plant and fungal cells and some protist, animal, and bacterial cells. Vacuoles are essentially enclosed compartments which are filled with water containing inorganic and organic molecules including enzymes in solution, though in certain cases they may contain solids which have been engulfed. Vacuoles are formed by the fusion of multiple membrane vesicles and are effectively just larger forms of these.
Learn about how the quality of water is a direct result of complex bio-geo-chemical interactions, and about how to use these processes to mitigate water quality issues.
Delves into synthetic biology, assembling molecular components for biological functions in living cells, including gene expression control and engineered receptor signaling.
Recent advances in coupling light-harvesting microorganisms with electronic components have led to a new generation of biohybrid devices based on microbial photocatalysts. These devices are limited by the poorly conductive interface between phototrophs and ...
High throughput wide-field second harmonic imaging enables the label-free imaging of interfacial (< 3 nm thick) water, with a spatial resolution of similar to 370 nm using similar to 100 ms acquisition times per image. The obtained interfacial orientationa ...
Spie-Int Soc Optical Engineering2024
,
Our ability to study and valorize the lignin fraction of biomass is hampered by the fundamental and still unmet challenge of precisely quantifying native lignin's structural features. Here, we developed a rapid elevated-temperature H-1-C-13 Heteronuclear S ...