Plant and Animal Cell Overview: The Basics

! Both plant and animal cells, which are eukaryotes, have cell features in common:
• Both plant and animal cells are bound by plasma membranes that enable the
regulation of materials passing into and out of the cell.
• Compartmentalization is the process by which cells have evolved organelles,
membrane-enclosed structures that perform specific functions, to increase the
efficiency of cell metabolism.
• The surface-area-to-volume ratio is used to measure cell efficiency. It is
calculated by dividing a cell’s surface area (in square units) by the volume (in cubic
units).

An outer plasma membrane binds both (b)

plant and (a) animal cells. The membrane
allows regulation of material passing in and
out of the cell. Generalized plant and animal
cells—including cell membranes—are depicted
in illustrations on the left.

(a) Cell compartmentalization can be likened

to the division of labor by society. Compart-
mentalization enables cell organelles to
specialize in one activity and thereby increase
productivity. The illustrations on the left show
that in both (b) plant and (a) animal cells, cell
processes are compartmentalized into
organelles, the main units of cell function.
(b)

Cell membrane

The illustration on the left presents the

surface-area-to-volume ratios of three
hypothetical cube sizes. As overall cube (cell)
size increases, surface-area-to-volume ratio
decreases. A higher surface-area-to-volume
ratio is more efficient for cellular activity.

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