BIO NMDCAT

Gap junctions are protein channels made of connexins that bridge the gap between adjacent animal cells, playing a role similar to plasmodesmata.

Lysosomes function as the cell's recycling center under acidic conditions; typical plant cells rely instead on their central vacuole for hydrolytic breakdown.

The development of a massive, turgid central vacuole forces the cytoplasm and the nucleus to the periphery against the plant cell wall.

The rigid, box-like cellulose cell wall forces plant cells to maintain structured, geometric, or rectangular morphologies.

Leukoplasts are non-pigmented plastids found in non-photosynthetic plant tissues (like roots or tubers) that store starches (amyloplasts) or fats.

Animal cells form a contractile ring of actin and myosin filaments that pinches the plasma membrane inward, creating a cleavage furrow.

The rigid cell wall prevents pinching; instead, the phragmoplast guides Golgi vesicles to fuse at the equator, forming a new cell plate from the inside out.

Lignin is a complex, non-carbohydrate aromatic polymer deposited in secondary plant cell walls, rendering them woody, waterproof, and rigid.

The middle lamella acts as a cellular glue between neighboring plant cells, composed primarily of sticky sticky pectin compounds.

Animal cells incorporate cholesterol into their membranes to regulate fluidity across temperatures; plants use alternative sterols (phytosterols).

Lacking a rigid cell wall to resist hydrostatic pressure, animal cells absorb water via osmosis until the plasma membrane ruptures.

Chloroplasts are specialized green plastids containing chlorophyll pigments that execute the light and dark reactions of photosynthesis in plants.

Animal cells lack a cell wall entirely; their outermost living boundary is the selectively permeable phospholipid bilayer known as the plasma membrane.

Plant cells possess an extracellular, rigid cell wall made primarily of cellulose that protects the cell from mechanical stress and osmotic lysis.

Cellulose is a linear polymer of β-D-glucose units that organizes into microfibrils to give the plant cell wall its high tensile strength.

Mature plant cells feature a massive central vacuole that maintains turgor pressure, whereas animal cells contain multiple small, transient vacuoles.

The tonoplast is the specialized semi-permeable membrane enclosing the plant vacuole, containing active transport pumps to maintain cell turgidity.

Without a functional termination response, the polymerase runs past the end of the gene, creating a long, un-terminated read-through transcript.

Inhibiting HDAC keeps histones acetylated, neutralizing their positive charges and keeping chromatin open (euchromatin) to boost transcription.