Question

What is the main difference in the chemical composition of the cell surface of plants versus animals?

plants - mostly protein animals - mostly protein and some polysaccharides

plants - polysaccharides only animals - proteins only

plants - proteins only animals - polysaccharides only

plants - polysaccharides only animals - mostly protein and some polysaccharides

Answer 1

A non-living rigid structure called the cell wall forms an outer covering for the plasma membrane of plants.The outermost layer of plant cell is the cell wall that is composed of a variety of polysaccharides, lipids, proteins and mineral deposits. In most of the plant cells, the cell wall is made up of cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin and protein.

Animal cell lacks cell wall but possess a cell membrane/plasma membrane. Studies showed that the cell membrane is mainly composed of lipids and proteins. The major lipids are phospholipids that are arranged in a bilayer. Also, the lipids are arranged within the membrane with the polar head towards the outer sides and the hydrophobic tails towards the inner part. Later, biochemical investigation clearly revealed that the cell membranes also possess protein and carbohydrate. The ratio of protein and lipid varies considerably in different cell types. Hencr it is clear that Chemically, the plasma membrane is composed of a wide variety of proteins, lipids in the form of cholesterol, phospholipid and sphingolipid and carbohydrates in the form of glycoproteins.

Therefore , the main difference between the cell surface of plant and animal cell is that plants have polysaccharides and animal cell has mostly proteins and some polysaccharides in cell surface.