Biology Problem of the Week: Plant Cells versus Animal Cells

One of the most common kinds of questions on standardized biology tests (such as the SAT Subject Test) are ones that ask the student to recognize the difference between plant and animal cells. Here are the diagrams for both kind of cells. The question is, which one is the plant cell and which one the animal cell?

Although both cells have mitochondria, rough endoplasmic reticulum and other structures in common, there are some key differences as follows:

1. The plant cell has a cell wall whereas the animal cell does not.

2. The plant cell has chloroplasts (for photosynthesis) while the animal cell does not (which makes plants autotrophs and plants heterotrophs).

3. The animal cell has lysosomes whereas the plant cell lacks them.

4. The animal cell has centrosomes but the plant cell does not.

5. Plant cells can have very large vacuoles whereas animal cells do not.

Thus, the first cell is a plant cell and the second an animal cell.