Question

diffrentiate between the structure of onion cells and cheek cells.

Answer 1

An onion cell is a plant cell, and a cheek cell an animal cell. The main differences between plant and animal cells are that plant cells have:

• Cellulose cell wall
• Large vacuole
• Chloroplasts (if the plant is green)

Animal cells have none of the above. A cheek cell is a flat (squamous) cell from the inner lining of the mouth. The lining is a mucous membrane similar to those found all throughout our digestive tract. When you view a "cheek cell" scraping through a microscope on high power, you will see many cells that have been overlapped or rolled up. When you find one or a group of cells, each cell will have an irregular edge and a distinct nucleus in its center. The cells have no color, so a stain helps to make them more obvious. They are sometimes described as looking like a fried egg, sunny side up (but transparent). Onion skin cells seen through the microscope are also transparent. However, they are generally rectangular in shape, with a distinct cell wall.