ten
FACTS ON
VACUOLES
by Philip McIntosh
Plant cells need to store substances for functions required later on.
Vacuoles are good for that sort of thing.
THE TERM vacuole sounds sort of
like “vacuum” and it indeed stems from
the Latin vacuus, meaning “empty,”
though vacuoles are far from empty. UNDER WATER deficit, water
VACUOLES ARE membrane- THE PRESSURE inside a plant cell
caused by the expansion of the central
vacuole can also assist in cell elongation
when the cell wall is in a plastic state
during growth.
bounded sacs inside cells used
for a variety of purposes. The main
component of a vacuole is water, but in
the water there may be a wide range of
molecules of importance to a cell.
ONE OF the most well-known of
vacuoles is the central vacuole that is
so prominent in many plant cells.
THE MEMBRANE that encloses
the central vacuole goes by the special
name, tonoplast.
THE IMPORTANT role of
maintaining turgor pressure is
assigned to the central vacuole which
pressurizes the cell contents against
the cell wall to keep the plant stiff and
erect under normal conditions.
90
Maximum Yield
flows out of the central vacuole and the
internal cell pressure decreases, which
may result in wilting of the plant body.
OTHER SMALLER
vacuoles are less noticeable
but perform specialized roles
within a plant cell.
SOME VACUOLES
are storage containers
or processing centers
for waste materials
or secondary
compounds such as
pigments or resins.
PLANTS, ESPECIALLY in
their seeds, use vacuoles to store fats,
proteins, and carbon compounds until
they are needed later on.