Cell is the basic structural and functional unit of life. All organisms from simple bacterium to giant blue whale are made up of cells. The basic structure of both plant cell and animal cell is the same. The difference in cell structure is primarily due to the difference in mode of nutrition. Plants are autotrophs and animals are heterotrophs.
Plant cell vs Animal cell
Plant cells
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Animal cell lacks cell wall and the outermost boundary is the plasma membrane.
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Animal cell lacks chloroplast.
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Mature plant cell possess large central vacuole.
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In animal cells, vacuoles are very small.
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Centrosome or centrioles are absent in plant cell. Spindle apparatus forms from protoplasmic fibres during cell division.
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Centrioles are present and is involved in the formation of the spindle apparatus during cell division.
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During cell division, daughter cells are separated into two by formation of “cell plate”. Cell plate grows from centre towards periphery in protoplasm between two daughter cells.
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In animal cells, during cell division “cleavage furrow” separates daughter cells. “Cleavage furrow” separates daughter cells by constrictions growing from periphery towards centre.
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Starch is the stored food in plants.
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Glycogen is the stored food in animals.
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Lysosome like structures are absent in plant cell. Many reports suggest that vacuole is doing the function of lysosome as it contain many digestive enzymes just like lysosomes.
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Lysosome is present.
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