WEBVTT - How Are Animal and Plant Cells Different?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogel bomb here. From the outside, plants seem pretty

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<v Speaker 1>different from animals. For instance, plants can't walk around and

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<v Speaker 1>catch food like we do, they give up oxygen instead

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<v Speaker 1>of carbon dioxide, and they don't have the same sensory

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<v Speaker 1>organs that help us get out of the way of

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<v Speaker 1>a fire or sniff out and hunt down a potential meal.

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<v Speaker 1>But plants and animals are more similar than they might

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<v Speaker 1>seem from the outside. Under a microscope, a plant cell

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<v Speaker 1>and an animal cell might seem so similar that in

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<v Speaker 1>some cases you'd really have to know what you're looking

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<v Speaker 1>at to tell the difference between them. This is because

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<v Speaker 1>plants and animals both belong to the domain eukaryota, organisms

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<v Speaker 1>with cells that are basically sealed baggies full of fluid,

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<v Speaker 1>suspending little factories called organelles, which have different jobs in

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<v Speaker 1>the cell depending on the needs of the organism. Plants, animals, fungi,

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<v Speaker 1>and protests are all eukaryotes. These organisms are made up

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<v Speaker 1>of one or more cells with a variety of membrane

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<v Speaker 1>owned organelles, including the nucleus, the big boss organelle that

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<v Speaker 1>contains all the DNA and instructions for making that particular

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<v Speaker 1>bear or ring worm, or ficus tree, or fruit fly

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<v Speaker 1>or human being. Even though a blueberry bush and a

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<v Speaker 1>corgi don't seem to have much in common on the

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<v Speaker 1>spectrum of things, their cells are way more similar to

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<v Speaker 1>each other than they are to those of bacteria, for example,

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<v Speaker 1>which are prokaryotes, single celled organisms that are generally smaller

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<v Speaker 1>than a single eukaryotic cell, that contain only a few

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<v Speaker 1>types of rudimentary organelles, and that lack a nucleus to

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<v Speaker 1>hold their DNA. The word eukaryote means true kernel, referring

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<v Speaker 1>to that important nucleus. It's kind of a mess inside

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<v Speaker 1>a prokaryotic cell, whereas eukaryotic cells are highly structured. But

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<v Speaker 1>at the end of the day, eukaryotes and prokaryotes have

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<v Speaker 1>more in common with each other than they do with

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<v Speaker 1>a rock. So there's that. If plants and animals are

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<v Speaker 1>so similar on a cellular level, why do they seem

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<v Speaker 1>so different when you take a couple steps back. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>it's because plants and animals have different goals. Each of

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<v Speaker 1>their eukaryotic cells is customized to make them great at

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<v Speaker 1>being what they are. For instance, it's a plant's job

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<v Speaker 1>to take carbon dioxide out of the air, which we

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<v Speaker 1>animals just leave lying around every time we exhale or

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<v Speaker 1>drive a car, and plants can simply add a little

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<v Speaker 1>sunlight and water to that CEO two in order to

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<v Speaker 1>make literally everything they need to survive. Animals, on the

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<v Speaker 1>other hand, require oxygen made by plants to breathe, but

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<v Speaker 1>we can't make our own food like plants do, so

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<v Speaker 1>we've got to go rustle up our own grub. This

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<v Speaker 1>requires movement, which made it necessary for animals to evolve

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<v Speaker 1>all kinds of crazy specialized cell types, tissues, and organs

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<v Speaker 1>that a plant can't make because they simply don't need them.

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<v Speaker 1>Survival is based on getting basic needs met, and the

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<v Speaker 1>outsourced requirements of an animal far surpass those of plants,

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<v Speaker 1>even though their cells are constructed similarly, plants and animals

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<v Speaker 1>have different cellular settings. A really obvious prints is in

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<v Speaker 1>the outer shell of the cell. In addition to a

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<v Speaker 1>cell membrane, plants have cell walls made out of tough

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<v Speaker 1>compounds called cellulose and lignin, which makes them rigid and tough,

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<v Speaker 1>useful for keeping trees from collapsing into gelatinous piles. Animal cells,

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<v Speaker 1>on the other hand, are contained within a thin cell membrane,

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<v Speaker 1>a flexible container a lot like a semipermeable sandwich bag.

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<v Speaker 1>It provides nothing in the way of structure, but it

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<v Speaker 1>can regulate what comes in and out of the cell,

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<v Speaker 1>and it can keep all the organelles contained within it.

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<v Speaker 1>Animals have all kinds of fancy organelles that help them

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<v Speaker 1>form some pretty mind blowing structures like bones, muscles, and nerves.

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<v Speaker 1>These organelles are what allow animals to build empires honestly,

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<v Speaker 1>but one organelle animals don't have is the chloroplast, which

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<v Speaker 1>allows plans to photosynthesize, or make sunlight into glucose compounds.

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<v Speaker 1>So any green you see on a plant, the leaf,

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<v Speaker 1>the stem, and the peel of an unripe banana all

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<v Speaker 1>comes from the chloroplasts in their cells, turning light into

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<v Speaker 1>food and try that animals. One other important difference between

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<v Speaker 1>plant and animal cells can be found in another organelle

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<v Speaker 1>called a vacuule. Some animal cells contain vacuoles, but in

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<v Speaker 1>a plant cell, they're really large and have an important

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<v Speaker 1>job keeping the plant from wilting. Vacuoles are basically intercellular

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<v Speaker 1>water balloons that keep the cell plumped up from the

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<v Speaker 1>inside by creating turgore pressure of pushing the cell membrane

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<v Speaker 1>against the cell wall, and helping the plant keep its shape.

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<v Speaker 1>If you've ever seen a pitiful carrot at the bottom

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<v Speaker 1>of your crisper drawer, I'll floppy and on appetizing. It's

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<v Speaker 1>the loss of turgore pressure and its vacules that ultimately

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<v Speaker 1>landed it in the compost bin. And that's about all

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<v Speaker 1>that separates you from a plant. Today's episode was written

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<v Speaker 1>by Jesseline Shields and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works.

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<v Speaker 1>For more in this and lots of other highly specialized

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<v Speaker 1>topics because at our home planet, how stuff Works dot

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<v Speaker 1>com and for more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit

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