Proteins

Within individual organisms, food moves through a series of chemical reactions in which it is broken down and rearranged to form new molecules, to support growth, or to release energy.

Two of the most important energy-carrying molecules are glucose and ATP (adenosine triphosphate).

Plant cells also contain chloroplasts. Chloroplasts contain chlorophyll which captures light energy of the sun and converts carbon dioxide and water into sugar and oxygen. So how do both plant and animal cells move substances across an organism? This can be done by either active transport, diffusion or osmosis.

Most, if not all plants are producers, and they make their own food using sunlight and raw materials, through a process called “photosynthesis”. Plants get their energy in form of starch whereas animals get it in form of glycogen.

Like plants, humans and other animals depend on glucose as an energy source, but they are unable to produce it on their own and must rely ultimately on the glucose produced by plants. Moreover, the oxygen humans and other animals breathe is the oxygen released during photosynthesis.

The answer lies in considering the energy budget of a large active multicellular animal such as a human being. Every day an adult human requires its own body weight in a molecule called ATP, which stores the chemical energy released from the oxidation of glucose.

Unfortunately, getting humans to photosynthesize sunlight is next to impossible. The human digestion system breaks down food into glucose and our cells store the energy as a molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Our body’s demand for glucose is higher than photosynthesis can accommodate.

A primary role for the glucose molecule is to act as a source of energy; a fuel. Plants and animals use glucose as a soluble, easily distributed form of chemical energy which can be ‘burnt’ in the cytoplasm and mitochondria to release carbon dioxide, water and energy.

When you’re not eating – especially overnight or between meals, the body has to make its own sugar. The liver supplies sugar or glucose by turning glycogen into glucose in a process called glycogenolysis.

In a plant cell, chloroplast makes sugar during the process of photosynthesis converting light energy into chemical energy stored in glucose. In mitochondria, through the process of cellular respiration breaks down sugar into energy that plant cells can use to live and grow.

Animals that eat meat (carnivores) must get their glucose from the food they eat, which are animals that eat plants (herbivores). The glucose from the plant is transferred to their body tissues. When herbivores are then eaten by carnivores, their body tissues are broken down to provide a source of glucose.

Plants form glucose by photosynthesis and animals get glucose by breaking down the food they eat. During cellular respiration, glucose combines with oxygen to release energy and to form carbon dioxide and water. Most of the carbon dioxide in animals is released into the air when the animal breathes.

Both plant and animal cells are eukaryotic, so they contain membrane-bound organelles like the nucleus and mitochondria. For example, plant cells contain chloroplasts since they need to perform photosynthesis, but animal cells do not.

Structurally, plant and animal cells are very similar because they are both eukaryotic cells. They both contain membrane-bound organelles such as the nucleus, mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, golgi apparatus, lysosomes, and peroxisomes. These structures include: chloroplasts, the cell wall, and vacuoles.

Major structural differences between a plant and an animal cell include:

• Plant cells have a cell wall, but animals cells do not.
• Plant cells have chloroplasts, but animal cells do not.
• Plant cells usually have one or more large vacuole(s), while animal cells have smaller vacuoles, if any are present.

Both animal and plant cells are eukaryotic cells and have several similarities. The similarities include common organelles like cell membrane, cell nucleus, mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, ribosomes and golgi apparatus.

Animal cells have centrosomes (or a pair of centrioles), and lysosomes, whereas plant cells do not. Plant cells have a cell wall, chloroplasts, plasmodesmata, and plastids used for storage, and a large central vacuole, whereas animal cells do not.

Now, let us discuss about plant tissue and animal tissue. There are certain differences between plant tissue and animal tissue….Difference between Plant Tissue and Animal Tissue.

Differences between plants and animals: Locomotion: Plants generally are rooted in one place and do not move on their own (locomotion), whereas most animals have the ability to move fairly freely. Photosynthesis: Plants contain chlorophyll and can make their own food, this is called Photosynthesis.

Plant and animal cells have structures related to their functions. Plant tissues are broadly divided into Dividing or Meristematic and Permanent tissues. The xylem and phloem make up the vascular tissue. Animal tissues are made up of epithelial, connective, muscle and nerve tissue.

Plants are simpler organisms than animals, having three organ systems and fewer organs than do vertebrate animals. Organs are composed of tissues, which are in turn composed of cells. Plants have three tissue types: ground, dermal, and vascular. Animals have four: epithelial, connective, muscle, and bone.