1.2 Plant and animal cells

Summary: When you look at cells through a microscope, you will see smaller parts inside them. These parts all have important functions jobs. Animal cells and plant cells contain some of the same parts… Tags: science oxford-science student-book-7 biology Created: 2026-05-19 Last Updated: 2026-05-19

After this topic, you will be able to:

• describe what each part of a cell does
• compare the parts of plant and animal Cells
• use a microscope to look at plant and animal cells.

Think back

1. Which parts of a microscope magnify an image?
2. What are the smallest units in an organism?
3. How do plants make food?

Key idea Cells are made up of even smaller parts.

Key words nucleus, cell membrane, cytoplasm, mitochondria, Respiration, cell wall, vacuole, chloroplast, Photosynthesis

When you look at cells through a microscope, you will see smaller parts inside them. These parts all have important functions (jobs). Animal cells and plant cells contain some of the same parts. However, some parts are different.

What is inside an animal cell?

You can see some animal cells in Figure 1. They have an irregular shape. They contain four parts: a nucleus, a cell membrane, cytoplasm, and many mitochondria (singular: mitochondrion).

Figure 1Animal cells viewed under a microscope. Can you see the nucleus inside each one?

A Name the four parts that make up an animal cell.

Figure 2 shows the parts of an animal cell. Each part has a different function:

Figure 2An animal cell. Full text alternative to the content

B Name the two parts of a cell where Chemical Reactions take place.

What is inside a plant cell?

Plant cells, like the one in Figure 3, have a more regular shape than animal cells. This allows them to fit together like bricks. They contain seven parts. Like animal cells, they contain a nucleus, a cell membrane, cytoplasm, and many mitochondria. They also contain three extra parts: a cell wall, a vacuole, and chloroplasts.

Figure 3Leaf cells viewed under a microscope. Can you see the chloroplasts?

C Name the cell parts that are only in plant cells.

Figure 4 shows the parts of a plant cell. Each part has a different function:

Figure 4A plant cell. Full text alternative to the content

Literacy skills ‘Chlorophyll’ and ‘chloroplast’ both start with the prefix ‘chloro’, which means ‘green’. Prefixes can give you a clue about what the word means. Other prefixes in biology include ‘bio’, ‘photo’, and ‘micro’.

Stretch zone

1. Match each part of a cell to its function. vacuolenucleuscell wallcytoplasmchloroplastscell membranemitochondria controls the cell’s activitiescontrols what comes in and out of a cellwhere chemical reactions take placewhere respiration takes placewhere photosynthesis takes placecontains cell sapfirm structure that supports the cell
2. Animal cells contain a number of parts. Draw an animal cell.Label three cell parts on your drawing.

Stretch zone

1. Most plant cells contain chloroplasts. Identify the plant cells that do not contain chloroplasts: cells from a leafcells from a rootcells from a stemExplain your answer.