Exercise No.

2
Plant Cells

Introduction:

Cell is the basic unit of which the bodies of plants and animals are made. Each cell in an organism’s
body is structurally constructed so as to carry out life’s sustaining processes.

A number of characteristics separate the plant cell from that of an animal cell. Foremost among
these is the presence of cell wall in the former and its absence in the latter. Presence of structures
containing pigment called chloroplasts is another plant feature.

Chloroplasts and nucleus are two of the many organelles found inside a plant cell. Their presence
along with other membrane-bound organelles give evidence that the cell is compartmentalized. Biological
membranes have specific attributes like that of semi-permeability, a very important property of the
plasmalemma which regulates the passage of substances in and out of the cell. Likewise, the membrane
properties of the vacuole enable it to store waste products of metabolism some of which crystallize.

A cell acquires its functional properties through the process of differentiation after division. Thus,
a derivative of cell division may differentiate into any of the three general types of cells in the ground
tissue of the plant body, namely, parenchyma, collenchyma and sclerenchyma. Or, it may develop into
one of the component cells of the vascular tissue.

This exercise introduces the student to the basic structure of a plant cell as seen under the light
microscope.

Objectives:

1. Gain information on the general structure of simple living plant cells.

2. Prepare a wet mount to view cells with a compound microscope.
3. Stain and examine major cellular organelles.

Materials:

Allium cepa (onion) Small white potato

Capsicum (pepper) 0.1% aqueous neutral red
Hydrilla sprig I2KI
Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) Sucrose solution
Leaves of Rhoeo spathacea (bangka-bangkaan) Single-edged razor blades
Cucurbita (squash) shoot Glass slides and cover slips
Procedure:

A. Cell wall

The cellulosic cell wall is the non-living component of a plant cell. It is laid down by the protoplast
when a cell divides. Owing to its rigidity, the cell wall dictates cell size and shape. Mount a small strip of
the inner epidermis of an onion bulb scale on a glass slide and add a drop of 0.1% aqueous neutral red.
Examine under the LPO and observe the cell wall. This appears as a discrete red-stained boundary around
the cell.

Switch to HPO. At the region of union of the walls of adjacent cells lie the middle lamella, the so-called
cementing substance between cells which largely consists of calcium pectate. Look for depressions or thin
areas on the wall, called pits. Traversing the thin areas are the strands of cytoplasm plasmodesmata,
connecting the protoplasts of adjacent cells. How many nuclei are present in each cell?

Illustrate a few cells showing the cell wall, middle lamella and pits.

B. Protoplast

Inner to the cell wall is the living component of the cell, the protoplast. The protoplast consists of the
cytoplasm, the membrane systems and the organelles. Plasmalemma is the membrane that separates the
protoplast from the cell wall. Study the distinctive feature of this membrane by inducing cell plasmolysis
in Rhoeo spathacea as follows: Place a segment of the epidermis of Rhoeo in a hypertonic solution of
sucrose. The high concentration in the solution causes plasmolysis, the drawing away of protoplast from
the cell wall. A cell in this state is said to be plasmolyzed. Explain the relationship of membrane semi-
permeability to the plasmolysis observed. How will you bring about deplasmolysis?

C. Cell Organelles

1. Nucleus – Observe the nucleus in onion epidermis mounted in a drop of I2KI. Look at the nucleus, a
distinct, spherical dark-staining body inside the cell. The nucleolus can also be seen inside cell.
2. Chloroplast – This is another organelle that is most visible in the plant cell. Observe it in Hydrilla leaf.
Chloroplasts are green because of the pigment chlorophyll.
3. Chromoplasts – These are colored plastids with an abundance of xanthophylls and carotene. Observe
them by making thin sections of tomato fruit mounted in water. Compare this with the chloroplast
in Hydrilla.
4. Vacuole – This takes up the greatest part of the inside of a mature plant cell. It contains various kinds
of substances like pigments which are not directly involved in photosynthesis.
5. Cytoplasm – Cell organelles are suspended in this dynamic matrix. In its living state, the cytoplasm
shows protoplasmic streaming or cyclosis. Observe this phenomenon in a fresh leaf of Hydrilla
mounted in water. Watch the chloroplasts which move along with the streaming cytoplasm.

C. Mature Trichome Cells

 Make a temporary mount of squash trichomes or hairs. Put a small drop of water on the glass slide.
Place a few squash hairs on the slide and cover it with a slip. Examine the specimen under the microscope
using LPO then shift to HPO and identify the parts visible. Draw a trichome cell and label parts seen.

D. Potato Parenchyma Cells

The most abundant of plant cells are called parenchyma cells. Parenchyma cells occur in various sizes
and are thin walled. The cells usually have several sides (most frequently 14) at maturity. Nearly all the
cells of a common white potato are parenchyma cells that contain starch granules. The starch grains are
often clam-shaped in outline, and may, when observed under HPO, have faint eccentric lines. Each line
represents the limit of one day’s deposit of starch. Each starch grain develops within a colorless leucoplast.
Leucoplasts are quite small at first and increase in size as the starch deposited within accumulates.

With a razor blade, make several paper-thin sections of potato, and keep the sections wet. Choose the
thinnest section and mount it in a drop of water on a slide. Add a cover slip, and if necessary, another
drop of water at the edge of the cover slip so that the whole section is surrounded by water. Locate an
area along one edge of the section where the tissue is thin enough for you to distinguish cells. Do not
confuse the thin, usually dark and relatively straight cell walls with the numerous starch grains within
them. To make the starch grains stand out, add a drop of I2KI solution, which stains starch a dark blue-
black color, to the edge of your cover slip. Draw one or two potato parenchyma cells. Label the cell wall
and starch grains.

E. Chromoplasts

Ripe tomatoes, red peppers, and several other red to orange fruits owe their color to organelles known
as chromoplasts within their cells.

Cut a paper-thin slice of tissue from red pepper or ripe tomato, and mount in water. Locate the small
orange or reddish chromoplasts in the cytoplasm. Illustrate some cells showing the chromoplasts.