Question

Who first saw and described the cell wall?

Answer 1

Hint: Cell wall is the outermost layer of the cell and is only found in plant cells. Cell wall is absent in animal cells.

Complete Answer:
It was in the year 1665, Robert Hooke saw and described the cell wall. The entire process of finding the cell wall is quite interesting. He first took a very thin slice cork and placed it under the microscope. On observing the cork, he found that there were small compartment-like structures, and these tiny structures were nothing but cells.

He further saw that there was an outer layering and termed it as a cell wall. The cell wall is made up of dead cells. The properties of cell wall includes,
1) It is the outermost layer of the plant cell
2) It is tough and flexible
3) It is made up of different types of polysaccharides depending on cell type
4) It helps in maintaining the structural integrity of the cell
5) It acts a line of defense against environment factors
6) It helps in regulating entry of particles from outside the cell to inside

A very interesting point to note is that, if Robert Hooke had taken an animal cell instead of a plant cell then he would have not found the cell wall.

Note: Cell wall is present only in plant cells, bacteria, algae, archaea and fungi but not animal cells. Cell membrane is present in both plant and animal cells.