Plant cell

A plant cell is a eukaryotic cell that forms the basic structural and functional unit of plants. It typically has a cellulose cell wall, chloroplasts, and a large central vacuole.

Cell wall: A strong extracellular layer that supports and protects many cells. Its cellulose-rich wall gives plant cells mechanical support and constrains their shape.
Osmosis: The net movement of water across a selectively permeable membrane toward a region of lower water potential. Water entering a plant cell can raise pressure against its rigid wall.
Animal cell: A eukaryotic cell found in animals, lacking a cellulose cell wall and chloroplasts. Its lack of a rigid wall and chloroplasts highlights structural differences from typical plant cells.
Plant tissue culture: The growth of plant cells, tissues, or organs on a sterile nutrient medium under controlled conditions. It uses plant cells’ capacity to regenerate tissues or whole plants under suitable conditions.
Endosymbiotic theory: The theory that mitochondria and plastids originated from bacteria incorporated into ancestral eukaryotic cells. It explains the bacterial ancestry of chloroplasts found in plant cells.
Chloroplast: A photosynthetic organelle that converts light energy into chemical energy in plants and algae. Chloroplasts let many plant cells make sugars from light, carbon dioxide, and water.
Turgor pressure: The pressure of a cell’s contents against its cell wall, generated largely by water uptake. It supports nonwoody plant tissues and depends on the vacuole’s water balance.
Fungal cell: A eukaryotic cell of a fungus, typically surrounded by a chitin-containing cell wall. Fungal cells have walls but generally lack the chloroplasts characteristic of photosynthetic plant cells.
Plant transformation: The introduction of new genetic material into plant cells. Transformed cells can be selected and regenerated to produce genetically modified plants.
Primary endosymbiosis: The evolutionary incorporation of a cyanobacterium by a eukaryotic ancestor, giving rise to primary plastids. This event established the chloroplast lineage in plants and several algal groups.

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