Question

All of the following are the functions of vacuole, except
A. Maintains turgor of plant cells
B. Provide aqueous environment for accumulation
C. Play a role in growth by elongation of cells
D. None of the above

Answer 1

Hint: Vacuole is an organelle in plants and fungi which is bounded by a membrane. The meaning of the word vacuole is, a small space or cavity present in between tissues which contains air or fluid.

Complete answer:
Vacuole is a membrane-bound organ in plants and other organisms which contain water or sap dissolved with other inorganic, organic substances. The membrane binding it is called tonoplast. The monomer of vacuole is vesicles which fusion together to form a large vacuole which has no particular shape. That is, the structure of vacuole changes with respect to the requirement in the cell. In plants, vacuoles take upto a space of 80 percent.

 Now let's analyze all the options one by one.
Option A) Turgor is the pressure exerted by the fluid inside a plant cell which makes it rigid. Loss of turgor will lead the leaves to wilt. As vacuole stores water and occupies almost all the free space in a cell it plays an important role in maintaining turgor in the plant cell.
Option B) Vacuole also plays an important role in storing useful as well as waste substance inside it. In seeds they act as a store for storing reserve protein and soluble carbohydrates. As they are very large in size, they can in fact store a lot of substances that are soluble in water as well. As the soluble substances require an aqueous environment and as vacuole provides the latter this can be considered as a function of vacuole.
Option C) Growth in plants occurs by the elongation of cells. Vacuoles present inside the cell plays a major role in producing the pushing force required for elongation of the cell. As they carry large amounts of water and sap they produce osmotic pressure which helps in pushing protoplasm from the inside which will lead to the elongation of cells and thereby growth of the organism. So this is also a function of vacuole.
Option D) As all the answers mentioned above have analyzed and found that they are functions of vacuoles none of these can be the correct answer.

Hence, the correct answer is option (D)

Note: Other important functions of vacuole are that they also help in getting rid of the waste substances. Sometimes the vacuoles will clear the extracellular space from harmful toxins by engulfing it and converting it into non-toxic chemical substances. The binding membrane consists of phospholipids and proteins which help in the transfer of particles.