Diversity of Life

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Diversity of Life
Although all living organisms are made up of cells, the fundamental component of life, there are marked differences between the forms and structures of animals, plants, and even some eukaryotes. Animal and plant cells have similar cell membranes, vacuoles, nuclei, and mitochondria from a general perspective. However, there are several significant structural variations between the two. The first difference relates to their shapes: animal cells are circular while plant cells are rectangular. Plant cells have cell walls that provide shape and support, but animal cells only have a cell membrane but no cell walls. Moreover, plant cells have a fixed size and are typically larger, whereas animal cells are usually irregular and smaller in size. The figure below shows a hand-drawn animal and plant cell in descending order.
287655029844900234315046990Cell membrane00Cell membrane
296227520510400446722576835Nucleolus00Nucleolus
3886200934084004591050800100Lysosome00Lysosome358140114960600046291501381760Golgi body00Golgi body3162300343535004524375229235Nucleus00Nucleus15049491515110003619501410335Centrosome00Centrosome135255012445900130492464833500161925629285Endoplasmic reticulum00Endoplasmic reticulum2000259525Mitochondria00Mitochondria
Figure 1. Parts of the Animal Cell.
676275135890Golgi body00Golgi body358139913817590035718758578850043053001266825Chloroplast00Chloroplast4238625742950Mitochondria00Mitochondria3314700229235004019550114935Vacuole00Vacuole16097251076959005524501200150Nucleus00Nucleus16097241838960005429251648460Plasma membrane00Plasma membrane158115080073500514350695325Cell wall00Cell wall174307423875900
Figure 2. Parts of the Plant Cell.
Plant cells also have chloroplasts, which facilitate the process of photosynthesis (the process through which plants make food). In contrast, animal cells only have mitochondria (the energy-producing organelles that power the cell through biochemical reactions) but no chloroplasts. At the same time, plant cells typically have one or several large vacu...