Question

With the help of a neat labeled diagram differentiate ‘Plant Cell’ from ‘Animal’ cell.

Answer 1

Hint: Plants and animals both are complex organisms. Plants are sessile while animals show locomotion. Plants can synthesize their food while animals cannot. All these differences arise due to the differences in their cellular structures.

Complete answer:
The major differences between plant and animal cells are summarised in the table below:

Plant Cell	Animal Cell
A rigid cell wall is present in plant cells	The cell wall is absent in animal cells
Mature plant cells have a large central vacuole	Numerous small vacuoles may be present in animal cell
The nucleus is present at the periphery of cytoplasm due to central vacuole	The nucleus lie centrally in most cases
Centrioles are not present	Centrioles are present
Anastral spindle formation occurs during cell division	Amphiastral spindle formation occurs during cell division
The Golgi apparatus in plant cells is composed of a number of distinct and unconnected units called dictyosomes	Golgi apparatus is either localized or diffused and exists as a well developed single complex
Reserve food materials include fat and starch	Reserve food material includes glycogen and fat
Adjacent cells have cytoplasmic connections known as plasmodesmata	Adjacent cells are connected by cell junctions like tight junctions, gap junctions, etc.
Cytokinesis takes place by cell plate formation	Cytokinesis occurs by cleavage.
Plastids are found within plant cells	Plastids are absent within plant cells

Note: Even though plant and animal cells share many differences both of them are similar in having eukaryotic cells. The ability to perform photosynthesis is usually seen in organisms belonging to kingdom Plantae, but certain other organisms belonging to kingdom Monera, kingdom Protista, etc can also perform photosynthesis. Euglena is an organism that exhibits both plant and animal-like characters, and a mixotrophic mode of nutrition is observed. These are heterotrophic when food is available but become photosynthetic or autotrophic when food is not available. Both plants and animals have semi - autonomous cell organelles, chloroplast in plants, and mitochondria in animals.