Comparative characteristics of plant and animal cells. What are the similarities and differences between cells? What are the similarities between different cells?


A cell is a single system that consists of elements that are naturally interconnected and has a complex structure. It is endowed with the ability for self-renewal, reproduction, and self-regulation.

What is a cell

All cells contain a cell membrane that surrounds its internal contents. It includes the nucleus, which performs the function of the brain and controls all processes occurring in it, and the cytoplasm, which occupies the entire space of the cell without the nucleus. This zone consists of a liquid called matrix or hyaloplasm and organelles (single and double membrane).

An organelle is a cell structure that performs specific functions. Without them, the cell will not be able to function normally.

The energy function is performed by mitochondria, which indicate the production of energy called ATP. The plant cell also contains two-membrane organelles - chloroplasts, the main function of which is photosynthesis. With their help, plants produce starch.

Another very large organelle of the plant cell is the vacuole, which contains sap, stores nutrients, gives color to plant components, and can also act as a garbage collector.

The main organelles also include the endoplasmic reticulum - a system of channels that delimit all organelles, essentially its framework. There are two types of network - rough (granular) and smooth (agranular). On the rough surface there are ribosomes that perform the function of protein formation. Smooth - responsible for lipid synthesis.

Similarities and differences in the structure of cells of plants, animals and fungi

Similarities in the structure of eukaryotic cells.

Now it is impossible to say with complete certainty when and how life arose on Earth. We also do not know exactly how the first living creatures on Earth ate: autotrophic or heterotrophic. But at present, representatives of several kingdoms of living beings coexist peacefully on our planet. Despite the great difference in structure and lifestyle, it is obvious that there are more similarities between them than differences, and they all probably have common ancestors who lived in the distant Archean era. The presence of common “grandfathers” and “grandmothers” is evidenced by a number of common characteristics in eukaryotic cells: protozoa, plants, fungi and animals. These signs include:

General plan of the cell structure: the presence of a cell membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus, organelles;
- fundamental similarity of metabolic and energy processes in the cell;
- coding of hereditary information using nucleic acids;
- unity of the chemical composition of cells;
- similar processes of cell division.

Differences in the structure of plant and animal cells.

In the process of evolution, due to the unequal conditions of existence of cells of representatives of different kingdoms of living beings, many differences arose. Let's compare the structure and vital activity of plant and animal cells (Table 4).

The main difference between the cells of these two kingdoms is the way they are nourished. Plant cells containing chloroplasts are autotrophs, that is, they themselves synthesize the organic substances necessary for life using light energy during the process of photosynthesis. Animal cells are heterotrophs, i.e., the source of carbon for the synthesis of their own organic substances is organic substances supplied with food. These same nutrients, such as carbohydrates, serve as a source of energy for animals. There are exceptions, such as green flagellates, which are capable of photosynthesis in the light and feed on ready-made organic substances in the dark. To ensure photosynthesis, plant cells contain plastids that carry chlorophyll and other pigments.

Since a plant cell has a cell wall that protects its contents and ensures its constant shape, when dividing between daughter cells, a partition is formed, and an animal cell, which does not have such a wall, divides to form a constriction.

Features of fungal cells.

Thus, the separation of fungi into an independent kingdom, numbering more than 100 thousand species, is absolutely justified. Mushrooms originate either from ancient filamentous algae that have lost chlorophyll, i.e., from plants, or from some ancient heterotrophs unknown to us, i.e., animals.


1. How does a plant cell differ from an animal cell?
2. What are the differences in the division of plant and animal cells?
3. Why are mushrooms separated into an independent kingdom?
4. What do they have in common and what differences in structure and life can be identified by comparing mushrooms with plants and animals?
5. Based on what features can we assume that all eukaryotes had common ancestors?

Kamensky A. A., Kriksunov E. V., Pasechnik V. V. Biology 10th grade
Submitted by readers from the website

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General in the structure of plant and animal cells: the cell is alive, grows, divides. metabolism takes place.

Both plant and animal cells have a nucleus, cytoplasm, endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, ribosomes, and Golgi apparatus.

Differences between plant and animal cells arose due to different paths of development, nutrition, the possibility of independent movement in animals and the relative immobility of plants.

Plants have a cell wall (made of cellulose)

animals do not. The cell wall gives plants additional rigidity and protects against water loss.

Plants have a vacuole, but animals do not.

Chloroplasts are found only in plants, in which organic substances are formed from inorganic substances with the absorption of energy. Animals consume ready-made organic substances that they receive from food.

Reserve polysaccharide: in plants – starch, in animals – glycogen.

Question 10 (How is the hereditary material organized in pro- and eukaryotes?):

a) localization (in a prokaryotic cell - in the cytoplasm, in a eukaryotic cell - the nucleus and semi-autonomous organelles: mitochondria and plastids), b) characteristics Genome in a prokaryotic cell: 1 ring-shaped chromosome - nucleoid, consisting of a DNA molecule (laying in the form of loops) and non-histone proteins, and fragments - plasmids - extrachromosomal genetic elements. The genome in a eukaryotic cell is chromosomes consisting of a DNA molecule and histone proteins.

Question 11 (What is a gene and what is its structure?):

Gene (from the Greek génos - genus, origin), an elementary unit of heredity, representing a segment of a deoxyribonucleic acid molecule - DNA (in some viruses - ribonucleic acid - RNA). Each protein determines the structure of one of the proteins of a living cell and thereby participates in the formation of a characteristic or property of the organism.

Question 12 (What is the genetic code, its properties?):

Genetic code- a method characteristic of all living organisms of encoding the amino acid sequence of proteins using a sequence of nucleotides.

Properties of the genetic code: 1. universality (the recording principle is the same for all living organisms) 2. triplet (three adjacent nucleotides are read) 3. specificity (1 triplet corresponds to ONLY ONE amino acid) 4. degeneracy (redundancy) (1 amino acid can be encoded by several triplets) 5. non-overlapping (reading occurs triplet by triplet without “gaps” and areas of overlap, i.e. 1 nucleotide cannot be part of two triplets).

Question 13 (Characteristics of the stages of protein biosynthesis in pro- and eukaryotes):

Protein biosynthesis in eukaryotes

Transcription, post-transcription, translation and post-translation. 1. Transcription consists of creating a “copy of one gene” - a pre-i-RNA molecule (pre-m-RNA). The hydrogen bonds between nitrogenous bases are broken and RNA polymerase is attached to the promoter gene, which “selects” nucleotides according to the principle of complementarity , and antiparallelism. Genes in eukaryotes contain regions containing information - exons and non-informative regions - exons. Transcription creates a “copy” of the gene, which contains both exons and introns. Therefore, the molecule synthesized as a result of transcription in eukaryotes is immature i-RNA (pre-i-RNA). 2. The post-transcription period is called processing, which involves the maturation of mRNA. What happens: Excision of introns and joining (splicing) of exons (splicing is called alternative splicing if exons are connected in a different sequence than they were originally in the DNA molecule). “Modification of the ends” of pre-i-RNA occurs: at the initial section - the leader (5"), a cap or cap is formed - for recognition and binding to the ribosome, at the end 3" - the trailer, polyA (many adenyl bases) is formed - for transport and - RNA from the nuclear membrane into the cytoplasm. This is mature mRNA.

3. Translation: -Initiation - binding of mRNA to the small subunit of the ribosome - entry of the starting triplet of mRNA - AUG into the aminoacyl center of the ribosome - union of two ribosomal subunits (large and small). -Elongation of the AUG enters the peptidyl center, and the second triplet enters the aminoacyl center, then two tRNAs with certain amino acids enter both centers of the ribosome. In the case of complementarity of triplets on i-RNA (codon) and t-RNA (anticodon, on the central loop of the t-RNA molecule), hydrogen bonds are formed between them and these t-RNAs with the corresponding AMCs are “fixed” in the ribosome. A peptide bond occurs between the AMCs attached to two tRNAs, and the bond between the first AMC and the first tRNA is broken. The ribosmoma takes a “step” along the mRNA (“moves one triplet”). Thus, the second t-RNA, to which two AMKs are already attached, moves to the peptidyl center, and the third triplet of mRNA ends up in the aminoacyl center, where from The next t-RNA with the corresponding AMK arrives in the cytoplasm. The process is repeated... until one of the three stop codons (UAA, UAG, UGA), which do not correspond to any amino acid, enters the aminoacyl center

Termination is the end of the assembly of a polypeptide chain. The result of translation is the formation of a polypeptide chain, i.e. primary protein structure. 4. Post-translation, the acquisition by a protein molecule of the appropriate conformation - secondary, tertiary, quaternary structures. Features of protein biosynthesis in prokaryotes: a) all stages of biosynthesis occur in the cytoplasm, b) the absence of exon-intron organization of genes, as a result of which a mature polycistronic m-RNA is formed as a result of transcription, c) transcription is coupled with translation, d) there is only 1 type of RNA polymerase (a single RNA- polymerase complex), while eukaryotes have 3 types of RNA polymerases that transcribe different types of RNA.

To the question, what are the similarities and differences between cells? given by the author AlbinaSafronova the best answer is
A peculiarity of the molecular organization of plant cells is that they contain the photosynthetic pigment - chlorophyll.

Cells of both plants and animals are surrounded by a thin cytoplasmic membrane. However, plants still have a thick cellulose cell wall. Cells surrounded by a hard shell can absorb the substances they need from the environment only in a dissolved state. Therefore, plants feed osmotically. The intensity of nutrition depends on the size of the plant body surface in contact with the environment. As a result, most plants exhibit a significantly high degree of dissection due to branching of shoots and roots.
The existence of hard cell membranes in plants determines another feature of plant organisms - their immobility, while in animals there are few forms that lead an attached lifestyle. That is why the distribution of animals and plants occurs in different periods of ontogenesis: animals disperse in the larval or adult state; plants develop new habitats by transporting rudiments (spores, seeds) that are at rest by the wind or animals.
Plant cells differ from animal cells in having special plastid organelles, as well as a developed network of vacuoles, which largely determine the osmotic properties of the cells. Animal cells are isolated from each other, but in plant cells, endoplasmic reticulum channels communicate with each other through pores in the cell wall. Glycogen accumulates in animal cells as reserve nutrients, and starch accumulates in plant cells.
The form of irritability in multicellular animals is a reflex, in plants - tropisms and nasties. Plants have sexual and asexual reproduction. In animals, the determining form of reproduction of offspring is sexual reproduction.
Lower unicellular plants and unicellular protozoa are difficult to distinguish, not only in appearance. For example, green euglena, an organism that stands as if on the border of the plant and animal worlds, has a mixed diet: in the light it synthesizes organic substances with the help of chloroplasts, and in the dark it feeds heterotrophically, like an animal.

Answer from Ambassador[newbie]
The similarity between plant and animal cells is found at the elementary chemical level. Modern methods of chemical analysis have discovered about 90 elements of the periodic table in living organisms. At the molecular level, the similarity is manifested in the fact that proteins, fats, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, vitamins, etc. are found in all cells.
Plants have such living properties as growth (cell division due to mitosis), development, metabolism, irritability, movement, reproduction, and the germ cells of animals and plants are formed by meiosis and, unlike somatic ones, have a haploid set of chromosomes.
Cells of both plants and animals are surrounded by a thin cytoplasmic membrane.
Plant cells differ from animal cells in having special plastid organelles, as well as a developed network of vacuoles, which largely determine the osmotic properties of the cells. Animal cells are isolated from each other, but in plant cells, endoplasmic reticulum channels communicate with each other through pores in the cell wall.


A cell is the simplest structural element of any organism, characteristic of both the animal and plant worlds. What does it consist of? We will consider the similarities and differences between cells of plant and animal origin below.

plant cell

Everything that we have not seen or known before always arouses very strong interest. How often have you looked at cells under a microscope? Probably not everyone even saw him. The photo shows a plant cell. Its main parts are very clearly visible. So, a plant cell consists of a shell, pores, membranes, cytoplasm, vacuole, nuclear membrane, and plastids.

As you can see, the structure is not so tricky. Let us immediately pay attention to the similarities of plant and animal cells in terms of structure. Here we note the presence of a vacuole. In plant cells there is only one, but in animals there are many small ones that perform the function of intracellular digestion. We also note that there is a fundamental similarity in structure: shell, cytoplasm, nucleus. They also do not differ in membrane structure.

animal cell

In the last paragraph, we noted the similarities of plant and animal cells in terms of structure, but they are not absolutely identical, they have differences. For example, an animal cell does not also have the presence of organelles: mitochondria, Golgi apparatus, lysosomes, ribosomes, cell center. An essential element is the nucleus, which controls all cell functions, including reproduction. We also noted this when considering the similarities between plant and animal cells.

Cell Similarities

Despite the fact that the cells differ from each other in many ways, let us mention the main similarities. Now it is impossible to say exactly when and how life appeared on earth. But now many kingdoms of living organisms coexist peacefully. Despite the fact that everyone leads a different lifestyle and has a different structure, there are undoubtedly many similarities. This suggests that all life on earth has one common ancestor. Here are the main ones:

  • cell structure;
  • similarity of metabolic processes;
  • information coding;
  • same chemical composition;
  • identical division process.

As can be seen from the above list, the similarities between plant and animal cells are numerous, despite such a variety of life forms.

Cell differences. Table

Despite a large number of similarities, cells of animal and plant origin have many differences. For clarity, here is a table:

The main difference is the way they eat. As can be seen from the table, a plant cell has an autotrophic method of nutrition, and an animal cell has a heterotrophic one. This is due to the fact that the plant cell contains chloroplasts, that is, the plants themselves synthesize all the substances necessary for survival, using light energy and photosynthesis. The heterotrophic method of nutrition refers to the ingestion of necessary substances into the body with food. These same substances are also a source of energy for the creature.

Note that there are exceptions, for example, green flagellates, which are able to obtain the necessary substances in two ways. Since the process of photosynthesis requires solar energy, they use the autotrophic method of nutrition during daylight hours. At night, they are forced to consume ready-made organic substances, that is, they feed in a heterotrophic way.

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