Question

Which of the following is the main difference between onion peel cells and human cheek cells.
A) The presence of mitochondria in onion peel cells only
B) Presence of cell walls in onion cells only
C) Absence of the plasma membrane in cheek cells.
D) Absence of endoplasmic reticulum

Answer 1

Hint: Human cheek cells are animal cells while the onion peel cells are the plant cells. The major difference between the plant cells and animal cells are the presence of the chloroplast, and cell wall in the plant cells.

Complete Answer:
The animal cells are devoid of these two cell organelles.The presence of cell membranes, mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, and the nucleus is common in both plant cells and animal cells. The cellular functions are similar in both.

So ‘Presence of cell walls in onion cells only’ the correct answer.

Additional information:
The other differences between plant cells and animal cells are;
- Plants cells are larger as compared to animal cells.
- Storage material is starch grains in plant cells, while in an animal cell, the storage material is glycogen granules.
- Plant cells have larger central vacuoles while on the other hand, the animal cells have temporary vacuoles.
- Plasmodesmata are present in plant cells but absent in animal cells.
- Plant cells do not possess the centrioles while centrioles are found in animal cells.
- Plants cells have fixed, regular shape, while animal cells have amorphous shape.

Note: The cell wall is the outermost membrane that covers the plasma membrane in plant cells. The cell wall in plants is made up of cellulose.