Hey there. My name is Kaeleigh, and welcome to Plant Cell. In this video,
you'll learn all of the parts that make up a plant cell and their functions. Let's get started.
This is a diagram of a plant cell. Cells are the microscopic building blocks of life, and all
living organisms are made up of cells, including plants. This is a diagram of an animal cell. It
will be best if you've already watched the video called Animal Cell before watching this video.
The animal cell on the left is very similar to the plant cell on the right, but there are
distinct differences between the plant cell and the animal cell. Can you think of any reasons why?
That's right. Plants and animals live very different lives. Most of the organelles in
the plant cell are the same as the ones in the animal cell, but there are a few organelles that
are found only in the plant cell. Remember, an organelle is just the different parts of a cell.
Let's find out which parts of the animal cell are different from the plant cell.
I recommend getting your note-taking supplies out for this video. There are new words and
definitions that you'll want to look back on. You can pause the video here to grab your supplies.
The most distinct difference between plant and animal cells is that plant cells have a cell wall
on the outside of the cell membrane. The cell wall provides structure for the plants to grow upright
and tall. Plants need cell walls because they don't have skeletons to hold them upright like
animals do. The cell wall also prevents the cell from bursting open when water enters the cell.
The other big difference between plant cells and animal cells is chloroplasts. See the stacks of
green pancakes? Those only exist in plant cells, and they're called chloroplast. They capture light
from the sun, and with water and carbon dioxide they produce sugar that the cell eats as food.
This process of turning light into food is called photosynthesis, and only plants can do it.
Another difference between plant and animal cells is having a large central vesicle called
a vacuole. Do you see the lakes in the cell? In mature plants there's only one central vacuole,
and that is very large, sometimes taking up almost all the space inside the cell. The vacuole
acts as a storage system for the cell. It stores water and holds the pigments for flower colors,
and some plants even store toxins in the vacuole, and that protects it from being eaten.
There are green dots on the outside of the cell wall. Those are called
plasmodesmata. They act as the telephone for the cell
and connect cells to each other to transport proteins. The rest of the organelles we're
going to talk about might seem familiar if you've already studied the animal cell.
The yellowish gel inside the cell wall is called the cytoplasm. The cytoplasm holds the
organelles in place and protects them from damage. Cytoplasm is like the security system of the cell.
The brown polka dots floating in the cytoplasm are ribosomes. They act as the handyman of
the cell and produce specific proteins that are used to repair other parts of the cell.
The big blue ball is the nucleus. The nucleus carries the majority of the cell's DNA.
DNA is the genetic information of the cell, and tells the cell what kind of cell it is
and when it will divide. In this way, the nucleus is like the brain of the cell,
and it controls the growth and the multiplication of the cell.
The dark blue ring inside the nucleus is called the nuclear
envelope. It separates the contents of the nucleus from the cytoplasm so that they don't mix.
The dark blue dots on the nuclear envelope allow materials like proteins to move between
the cytoplasm and the nucleus. They act like a ticket booth and only allow certain materials
into the nucleus at certain times. The egg yolk in the middle of the nucleus is called the nucleolus.
The nucleolus has a main job of building ribosomes for the cell. After the ribosomes
are built, they are transported out into the cytoplasm to work as handymen for the cell.
The light blue material that surrounds the nucleolus and fills up the inside of the
nuclear envelope is called nucleoplasm. Its job is similar to cytoplasm,
but it always stays inside the nuclear envelope.
The pink and blue smiles are mitochondria, which are famously called the powerhouse of the cell.
They're called the powerhouse because they work as the brain of the chloroplast in plant cells,
and they sense light and tell the chloroplast to start turning light energy into food energy. The
purple blob is the golgi apparatus. It is called the post office for the cell. It modifies, sorts,
and packages different materials to leave the cell or to be used in different places in the cell.
There are two types of endoplasmic reticulum. The first one we will talk
about is the small yellow one called the smooth endoplasmic reticulum.
It is used to metabolize lipids in the cell and help the cell detox from unwanted materials.
The other endoplasmic reticulum is called the rough endoplasmic reticulum,
and it's the big red blob. It's rough because it's covered with bumpy ribosomes, and these
ribosomes make specific proteins that are then transported in small sacks called vesicles.
Great work studying the plant cell. Now compare your animal cell notes to your plant cell notes
and spot the differences and the similarities. Keep practicing by
playing the online games and quizzes, and remember to always be clever.