Plant and Animal Vacuole Similarities and Differences

Alex Ford
4/7/17
 Are there vacuoles found in animal cells? This is a frequent debate. A main part of
debate is that the vacuoles in animal cells are a different structure than in plants and
double as lysosomes. There are different purposes for vacuoles within each cell. For
instance a vacuole in a plant cell is used to help support turgor pressure within the plant,
which is specific to the plant cell for structural integrity. On the other hand animal cells
are far more fluid with the ability to participate in endocytosis. Endocytosis moves
nutrients into the cell while exocytosis releases contaminants and waste out of the cell.
There are vacuoles in animal cells but theyre smaller and there are many of them.
Instead of holding water and helping turgor pressure the vacuoles in animal cells adjust
acidity levels along while keeping harmful contaminants out of the cell.
The vacuole is a key component to the process of autophagy, which breaks down
unnecessary components of the cell. Since there are many volatiles within the vacuole of
a cell such as waste, contaminants, and highly acidic or base molecules this can be used
for apoptosis or programmed cell death. (2 Hara-Nishimura) With many similarities and
dissimilarities between plant and animal vacuoles it may be difficult to distinguish if they
are individual or the same part of the cell. The overall relationship between animal and
plant cells is that they are closely interrelated (1 Klionsky)
Size differences found between plant and animal vacuoles determine how easy
they are to study. Considering plants have a larger, more distinguishable structure,
occupying up to 90 percent of the cell (3 Festa), the vacuoles of plants are far easier to
study as compared to their smaller and more numerous animal relatives.
When we consider that plants need to retain as much water they can get we can
note this may be due to the imperfect nature of photorespiration. There are stomata that
must be closed off for a majority of the life of the plants cell. We can conclude that
plants need a large amount of storage to keep any amount of water that is brought in. It is
evident that having a place for extra water, waste, and other fluids will be found in the
area that takes up the most space within the cell, the vacuole.
Animal cells are more fluid in nature and therefore have no intracellular central
vacuole (4) to provide as a base since animals require movement and cannot be stuck in
place. Relying on a skeleton with more bubbly or vesicular cells stuck together outlined
with osteoblasts to form a solid bone. Florencio at Biomed Research international finds
that during bone remodeling, there are an intricate communication among bone cells
(4)
Communication from cell to cell is key in the fluid mosaic of a cell. Plants
simply use their network and animal cells use their communication skills to convey
and enact changes within the cell to be put concisely. These processes are outlined in the
personality of the structure of the vacuole in the cell, which accentuate the way the
organism progresses through its lifespan. There is a seemingly negative view of vacuole
formation since they are the part of the cell that carries the waste and harmful particulates
out of the cell of which could house nasty parasitic molecules like salmonella. (5) All in
all vesicles are an integral part of the cell especially because they take care of the
unneeded particulates within the cell.
Throughout the years of studying parts of a cell, be it plant or animal in origin.
There have been plethora descriptions and disputes on the functionality of the plant
vacuole as compared to the animal vacuole. Both have very similar uses such as storage,
waste containing, and creating balance in acidity. Alas not all are the same. Plants use it
for structural support for the integrity of the organism. Animals use it for transport of
nutrients and waste from one side of the cell to another. Listing factors like these can be
redundant unless we can look into the importance of the needs between two not entirely
different kingdoms of organisms.
In order to find differences between vacuoles in plants versus animal cells we
need to categorize each type. The central vacuole is the large storage tank of the plant
cell. Being filled with water this membrane bound compartment, known as the tonoplast,
is the part that gives structure due to its pressurized nature.
The contractile vacuole is mainly found within animal cells especially ones that
reside in water. The function of the contractile vacuole helps to maintain the water input
to and from the cell to prevent it from the cell bursting, known as cytolysis. The most
common cell that this organelle is found in is the paramecium. It is studied extensively
that through osmoregulation (the method in which the cell transfers water from an area
with low concentration of salt to high in order to achieve homeostasis) water can be
pumped against the flow gradient in active transport with membrane ion channels and
electrogenic pump activity as observed by Allen RD. (6)
Vacuoles that break down food can also be mentioned but arent as specific to
animal or plant cells. For instance the central vacuole of a plant cell is able to break down
particulates but its primary function is not for consuming or absorbing food. The plant
will usually get nutrients via photosynthesis with chloroplasts. The food vacuoles in
animal cells are usually easier to identify. As discussed before cells will devour nutritious
sugars through endocytosis and expel with exocytosis but it was not told that it was
actually done with lysosomes. Lysosomes can be known as the food vacuole of an
animal cell since they primarily are made to break down other molecules.
As previously stated there are similarities and differences between plant and
animal vacuoles. It was discussed that plant cells specifically have large central vacuoles
that are meant to primarily store water and create turgor pressure for the plant. Plants also
usually have just one that takes up ninety percent of the volume of the cell. On the other
hand it was expressed that animal cells mainly have myriad vacuoles that provide many
differing services to aid in the health of the cell. Difficulties that emerge to retard the
study of animal vacuoles is that they are smaller, more abundant, and can be difficult to
identify among organelles such as lysosomes or simple vesicles. Animal cells can be
equipped with contractile vacuoles helping regulate water for cells that preside in a water
predominated environment.
Similarities seen in animal and plant cell vacuoles are: they both regulate pH
levels, contain waste particles, keep the cell at the proper hydration level, and provide an
important resource in each cells survival. The first question of if vacuoles are found in
animal cells, is purely pedantic as further study throughout this text outlines the
proliferation of vacuoles found in the many cells that exist. As biology progresses with
each study and speculation, be it as complicated and precise as the scientific method or as
succinct as a simple observation, it is the ever-expanding field of synergistic knowledge.
It is the study of growth and the study of life.
 Literature Cited

1.
D J Klionsky; P K Herman & S D Emr (1990). "The fungal vacuole: composition,
function, and biogenesis"
(functions are not individual, discrete properties of the vacuole but, rather, are closely
interrelated.)

2.
Hara-Nishimura, I., & Hatsugai, N. (2011). The role of vacuole in plant cell death. Cell
Death & Differentiation, 18(8), 1298-1304. doi:10.1038/cdd.2011.70
(Plants usevacuoles and vacuolar contents for programmed cell death)

3.
Festa, M., Lagostena, L., & Carpaneto, A. (2016). Using the plant vacuole as a biological
system to investigate the functional properties of exogenous channels and
transporters. BBA - Biomembranes, 1858(3), 607-612.
doi:10.1016/j.bbamem.2015.09.022

4
Florencio-Silva, R., Sasso, G. S., Sasso-Cerri, E., Simes, M. J., & Cerri, P. S. (2015).
Biology of Bone Tissue: Structure, Function, and Factors That Influence Bone
Cells. Biomed Research International, 20151-17. doi:10.1155/2015/421746
(during bone remodeling, there are an intricate communication among bone cells.)

5.
Domingues, L., Ismail, A., Charro, N., Rodrguez-Escudero, I., Holden, D. W., Molina,
M., & ... Mota, L. J. (2016). The Salmonella effector SteA binds
phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate for subcellular targeting within host
cells. Cellular Microbiology, 18(7), 949-969. doi:10.1111/cmi.12558

6.
Allen RD (2000). "The contractile vacuole and its membrane
dynamics". BioEssays. 22 (11)