Comparison of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells
Comparison of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cellsComparison of Plant and Animal Cells
Introduction
Eukaryotic cells are very complex; there are many organelles, each serving a distinct function, present in eukaryotic cells. We can divide the eukaryotic group of cells in to two main groups, according to the presence of these membrane bound organelles, and the structural differences amongst the cells and their organelles. The two groups of eukaryotic cells are plant and animal cells.
Nucleus
The reason that plant and animal cells are not divided in to two different types of cells, and instead are both grouped in the eukaryotic cell group lies in the definition of eukaryotic cells. The word is derived from the Greek �eu� meaning true, and �karyon� referring to the nucleus. This means the eukaryotic cells have �true� membrane-bound nuclei. Both plant and animal cells have a membrane-bound nucleus; hence, they are grouped as eukaryotic cells. The nucleus plays the same role and has the same structure in both plant and animal cells. You can see that the nucleus is present in both animal and plant cells by examining figure A and figure B.
Although the nucleus itself remains similar among both plant and animal cells, one difference lies in the positioning of the nucleus within the cell. Due to the central vacuole in a plant cell, the nucleus is usually not located in the center of the cell; rather, it is usually crowded nearer the plasma membrane. In most animal cells, however, the nucleus is located in the center of the cell, as this position is ideal in the process of mitosis, and there is no large central vacuole located in animal cells.
The nucleus contains the genes which control the entire cell, and, within the eukaryotic division of cells is uniform among all cells, that is, every eukaryotic cell has a nucleus which functions in the exact manner as other eukaryotic nuclei.
The nucleus of a eukaryotic cell performs three primary functions; these three functions make it possible for the cell to function, and to exist, as the building block of organisms. The Nucleus contains the genetic information of a cell. Encoded in this genetic information, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), are the instructions for all structures and organelles within the cell. This DNA instructs the cell as a whole in order for it to accomplish its primary function in a multicellular animal. The genetic information of a cell, through mitosis, is passed on to its daughter cells; therefore all of the cells in a multicellular animal contain the same DNA. This DNA is organized with proteins in to strands called chromosomes.
The second function of the nucleus within a cell is its control of protein synthesis. The nucleus controls protein synthesis through messenger RNA (ribonucleic acid), which is produced in the nucleus according to the instructions of the DNA and is transported to the ribosome through the cytoplasm or the endoplasmic reticulum, it then conveys the genetic message...
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