BIOLOGY Volume 1 - A Guide to General Biology - 2004

5. CELLS

5.8. Ultrastructure of Animal and Plant Cells

The Fine Structure of a Cell as revealed by an Electron microscope is known as its ultrastructure. Figs. 5.10 and 5.11 show the ultrastructure of generalized animal and plant Cells, respectively, while Figs. 5.12 and 5.13 show Cytology/cytology/93.html">ELECTRON MICROGRAPHS OF a typical animal cell and a typical plant cell. A description of all The Cell components shown here is also provided.

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Fig. 5.10. Ultrastructure of a generalized animal cell as revealed by an electron microscope. For simplicity, only a portion of the rough Endoplasmic reticulum with attached Ribosomes and A number of free ribosomes are shown.

Fig. 5.11. Ultrastructure of a generalized plant cell as revealed by an electron microscope.

Fig. 5.12. Electron micrograph of a thin section through a typical animal cell—a rat Liver hepatocyte (×9,600).

Fig. 5.13. Electron micrograph of a thin section through a typical plant cell—a leaf mesophyll cell (×15,000).

5.1. Compare Figs. 5.1 and 5.2 with Figs. 5.10 and 5.11. What new structures are revealed by the electron microscope compared to the Light Microscope?

5.2. Comparing Figs. 5.1 and 5.2 with Figs. 5.10 and 5.11, note which structures are (a) present in plant cells but absent in animal cells, and (b) present in animal cells but absent in plant cells?