Question

What is the central vacuole and what is its function?

Answer 1

Central Vacuole:

1. Within plant cells, there is a large vacuole called the central vacuole.
2. A cell's vacuole is a spherical filled with liquid and molecules. In a plant cell, the central vacuole stores water and regulates turgor pressure.
3. Additionally, it forces the cell's contents toward the membrane, enabling plant cells to absorb more light energy for photosynthesis, the process of turning sunlight into food.
4. Animal, protist, fungal, and bacterial cells all have vacuoles, but plant cells are the only ones that have huge central vacuoles.

The function of the Central Vacuole:

1. The main function of the central vacuole is to maintain a steady turgor pressure within the cell.
2. Turgor pressure, which only exists in cells with cell walls like those found in bacteria, fungi, and plants, is the pressure that the contents of the cell put on the cell wall.
3. A cell's turgor pressure changes as a result of osmosis, or the passage of water into or out of a cell.
4. Water flows into a plant cell when it is submerged in a hypotonic solution because the concentration of water molecules outside the cell is higher than that within.
5. In plants, this results in the cell becoming turgid and the vacuole filling with water.