Plant and animal cells

Both plant and animal cells share a few common cell organelles, as both are eukaryotes and the function of all these organelles is similar. However, there are some important differences.

Take a look at these two types of cells, then see the table below for some differences. (Note: Next week we will go into more detail about what all the labelled organelles do – so don’t worry too much about what all the labels mean yet).

What differences did you notice?

This table outlines some differences:

Animal cell	Plant cell
Comes in various sizes and shapes	Larger cells
Grow by increasing cell numbers	Grow by absorbing more water so cell size increases
Has lysosomes and centrosomes	Has a cell wall made of cellulose
Mostly round	Is box shaped
	Has plastids in the cell
	Has a large central vacuole that occupies most of the cell
	Has chloroplasts