Side by side
| Plant cell | Animal cell | |
|---|---|---|
| Cell wall | Present, a rigid covering whose major organic molecule is cellulose | Absent; the plasma membrane is the outer boundary |
| Chloroplasts and other plastids | Present; chloroplasts carry out photosynthesis and plastids store pigments | Absent, which is why animals are heterotrophs and must ingest their food |
| Vacuole | One large central vacuole occupying most of the cell's volume | Small vacuoles in some cells; no large central vacuole |
| Centrosome and centrioles | Plant cells have a microtubule organizing center but not the centriole-containing centrosome | Present, near the nucleus, with two centrioles lying at right angles |
| Lysosomes | Most plant cells do not have them; digestion takes place in vacuoles | Present, acting as the cell's digestive compartment at an acidic internal pH |
| Shared eukaryotic components | Plasma membrane, nucleus, ribosomes, mitochondria, rough and smooth ER, Golgi, peroxisomes | Plasma membrane, nucleus, ribosomes, mitochondria, rough and smooth ER, Golgi, peroxisomes |
| What the difference buys the cell | Structural support and shape from the wall, turgor from the vacuole, and its own food supply | Flexibility of shape, and a dedicated organelle for breaking down macromolecules and worn organelles |
Start from what they share
Both are eukaryotic cells, so the list of shared components is far longer than the list of differences: a plasma membrane, a nucleus holding chromatin and a nucleolus, ribosomes, mitochondria, rough and smooth endoplasmic reticulum, a Golgi apparatus, peroxisomes and a cytoskeleton. That shared inventory is the actual answer to most exam questions on this topic, because the differences only make sense against it. Plants keep a cell wall, chloroplasts and other specialized plastids, and a large central vacuole. Animal cells keep a centrosome containing a pair of centrioles, and lysosomes, both of which most plant cells lack.
Where students go wrong
Two errors dominate. The first is saying plant cells do not have mitochondria because they have chloroplasts. They have both: plants make sugars in chloroplasts and then respire those sugars in mitochondria to generate ATP. The second is treating the central vacuole as simply a big version of an animal cell vacuole. Its job is osmotic, regulating the cell's water content and pressing outward against the cell wall, and it is why an unwatered plant wilts: as water leaves, the vacuole shrinks and the wall loses its support. A third is forgetting that fungi and some protists also have cell walls.
Where this leads next
The deeper split is not plant against animal but prokaryotic against eukaryotic, since everything on both of these lists except the wall is a eukaryotic feature, and that comparison is the next page. The chloroplast difference points straight at the photosynthesis equation, which is the reaction the organelle exists to run. And because the cell wall changes how a plant cell responds to a hypotonic solution, where an animal cell would lyse, this page also connects to the hypertonic and hypotonic comparison in the transport unit.
Common mistakes
- Saying plant cells have no mitochondria. They have both chloroplasts and mitochondria, and respire the sugars they make.
- Listing the cell wall as a plant-only feature. Fungal and some protistan cells have walls too, though the plant wall's major organic molecule is cellulose.
- Treating the central vacuole as storage only. It regulates the cell's water concentration and provides the turgor that supports the cell wall.
- Claiming plant cells have no microtubule organizing center. They have one; what they lack is the centriole-containing centrosome of animal cells.
Related concepts
- Hypertonic vs hypotonic: Both terms describe the solution outside a cell, compared with the cytoplasm inside it.
- Photosynthesis equation: The overall equation for photosynthesis is 6CO₂ + 6H₂O + light energy → C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂.
- Prokaryotic vs eukaryotic cells: All cells share four components: a plasma membrane, cytoplasm, DNA and ribosomes.