Onion peel - Epidermal cells

 Cells are the smallest structural and functional unit of life. Cells are smaller than a grain of sand! But what do they do?

As the definition suggests, they carry out all the processes in organisms such as growth and repair. Cells have multiple tiny - tiny cell organelles which help in various activities of the cell from carrying genetic material to synthesizing proteins and creating huge organisms such as us, Humans!

   

Some cells have a specific shape, due to a structural protein called cellulose present in the cell wall, like plant cells and some don't such as human cells. In this blog lets dive into the plant cell! Plant cells contain a cell wall which gives them their rigid shape. They also contain the plasma membrane through which the exchange of materials take place.Cells contain a jelly like substance called the cytoplasm which contain the cell organelles, it is also the site where all the chemical reactions of the cell take place. Cells contain many cell organelles such as the Mitochondria- The powerhouse of the cell, the Nucleus-Control center of the cell which also contains the genetic material, and many more such as the Golgi apparatus, Ribosomes, Endoplasmic reticulum, Lysosomes, Vacuole and many more!

The most notable among the plant cells is the plastids. There are 3 kinds of plastids based on the presence of absence of biological pigments.

1) Leucoplast- They are colorless and are used for storage purposes just like the Vacuole.

2)Chromoplast- They contain pigments that give color to fruits, flowers, etc.

Now the most famous,

3)Chloroplast- They contain the green pigment called Chlorophyll important for the process of photosynthesis.

As seen in the following plant cells present in an onion epidermis.

As you can in see these pictures, we can observe a bamboo pattern showing their fixed shape due to cell wall.

The transparent medium in between the cell is the cytoplasm. Here we can't see the green colored cells due to the absence of chlorophyll. These cells are of the epidermal layer- The tissue that is the outer covering of the plants and protects the plant.

Well, that's the end of our plant cell journey. Hope you guys enjoyed! Never Stop Being Curious!