Plant Structure and Function

THE CELL WALL

 Plant cells are usually more regular in their appearance because of the cell wall

 The cell wall gives plants their strength and support

 It is mostly made of insoluble cellulose
 The plant cell wall is usually freely permeable
to everything that is dissolved in water
 Suberin is added to the cell wall in cork tissues,
and lignin is part of the cell wall structure in wood
These compounds reduce the permeability of the
cell wall so that water and dissolved substances
cannot pass through it
 The plant cell wall consists of several layers:

 The middle lamella

-is the first layer; made when a plant cell divides into two new cells
-made of pectin, a polysaccharide that holds the cell walls of adjacent plant cells together
-Pectin has lots of negatively charged carboxyl
(-COOH) groups and these combine with positive
calcium ions to make calcium pectate
The calcium pectate binds to the
cellulose on either side
 The cellulose microfibrils and the matrix build up
on both sides of the middle lamella
- These walls are very flexible with the cellulose
microfibrils all being arranged in a similar direction
They are called primary cell walls
 A secondary cell wall
-builds up with the cellulose microfibrils laid densely at different angles to each other which makes the
composite material much more rigid
-Hemicelluloses help to harden it further
-In some plants, lignin is then added to the
cell walls to produce wood, which makes it more rigid
- Within the structure of a plant, there are many
long cells with cellulose cell walls that have been
heavily lignified
These are called plant fibres and can be used
in many ways; clothing, building material, ropes
and paper
 Formation of cell wall:
 Dividing the contents of the cell during cytokinesis, a layer of
calcium pectate is delivered and deposited by vesicles from Golgi
apparatus and endoplasmic reticulum, these vesicles fuse along the
mid line of dividing cell
 Some of the endoplasmic reticulum become trapped across the
middle lamella which becomes plasmodesmata; cytoplasmic
connections between the new cells
 Layers of cellulose microfibrils deposits to form primary cell wall
 More layers of cellulose microfibrils will be deposited
as cell grows to the inner surface of the primary cell wall
to form secondary cell wall
THE CHEMISTRY OF CELLULOSE
 Cellulose is the main compound in plant cell walls
 Cellulose is a complex carbohydrate; polysaccharide
 Cellulose is a straight chain that consists of long chains of
β- glucose by glyosidic bond (1-4), where one of the monomers is inverted so the bonding can take place
 Hydrogen bonds are made between partially positive charged hydrogen atoms of the hydroxyl group,
and partially negative charged oxygen atoms
of glucose molecules;
cross linking holds the neighboring chains firmly
together to increase the strength of cellulose
 Most animals cannot digest cellulose because do not possess the enzymes needed to break the 1,4-glycosidic
bonds between the molecules of β –glucose
 Ruminant animals use the cellulose-digesting enzymes from bacteria living in their gut to digest their food
 Cellulose in plant food acts as roughage or fibre in the human diet
 In the cell wall, groups of I 0 000-100 000 cellulose molecules form microfibrils
 These cellulose fibrils are deposited in layers which are held together by a matrix of hemicelluloses and other
short-chain carbohydrates
 Mannose, xylose and arabinose are
examples of the sugars involved
 The combination of the cellulose microfibrils
in the flexible matrix makes a composite material
 The cells are turgid most of the time, giving
the strength to support the plant,
yet the plant can wilt when water is in short supply
and the cells become flaccid
PLASMODESMATA
 In primary cell walls and in cell walls without lignin, materials are exchanged through special cytoplasmic
bridges called plasmodesmata
 The plasmodesmata are produced as the cells divide - the two cells do not separate completely and threads of
cytoplasm remain between them. These threads pass through gaps in the newly formed cell walls and signaling
substances can pass from one cell to another through the cytoplasm
 The interconnected cytoplasm of the cells is called the symplast
 The cell walls are thinner in the region of the plasmodesmata
 When secondary thickening takes place, hemicelluloses and lignin
are deposited in the cell wall making it thicker

 In the areas around the plasmodesmata, this process doesn't happen,

leaving thin areas of the cell wall called pits

 There is no cytoplasm in the xylem cells but the pits allow water to
move between the xylem vessels and maintaining a flow of water
at even pressure through the plant
 Pits are the thin regions of the plant cell wall that facilitate communication and exchange of substances with
neighboring cells (thin secondary cell wall, no lignin, primary cell wall present)

 Plasmodesmata are microscopic intercellular bridges that connect the cytoplasm of neighboring cells with each
other (no primary cell wall, no secondary cell wall , no lignin)
Pits Plasmodesmata

Primary cell wall present Primary cell wall absent

Secondary cell wall absent Secondary cell wall absent

Lined with membrane and filled with Lined with membrane and filled with
cytoplasm cytoplasm

Provide connection between adjacent cells Provide connection between adjacent cells
(between xylem cells)
PLANT ORGANELLES
 PERMANENT VACUOLE
 fluid-filled space inside the cytoplasm
 is a permanent structure; occupy up to 80% of the volume of a plant cell
 is surrounded by a specialised membrane called the tonoplast
which contains many different protein channels and carrier systems
that controls the movements of substances into and out of the vacuole
and so it controls the water potential of the cell
 is filled with cell sap; a solution of various substances in water
that causes water to move into the cell by osmosis
and this means the cytoplasm is kept pressed
against the cell wall (turgid)
 Functions of the vacuole:

 maintaining the plant cell shape

 store pigments; the betacyanin pigment in beetroot
 store proteins in the cells of seeds and fruits and in some plant cells, they contain lytic enzymes
 store waste products and other chemicals; digitalis- a chemical found in foxgloves that can act as a heart drug
and a deadly poison
 CHLOROPLASTS
 enable plants to make their own food
 large organelles in a biconvex shape
 contain their own DNA
 surrounded by a double membrane
-Outer membrane
-Inner membrane; folded to provide an increased surface area where enzyme-controlled reactions take place
 Between the inner and outer membrane is the intermembrane space
 Inside the chloroplast are thylakoids that contain the chlorophyll where light-dependent reactions of
photosynthesis take place
 Stacks of thylakoids are called grana
 The fluid inside the chloroplast is the stroma,
where light-independent reactions of
photosynthesis take place
 AMYLOPLASTS
 Specialized plant organelle that store starch
 Contains amylopectin that can be hydrolyzed into glucose,
to provide energy for respiration
 Large numbers of amyloplasts are found
in areas of a plant that store starch,
for example potato tubers
 PLANT STEMS
 Functions of the stem:

 Support, to hold the leaves for obtaining sunlight for photosynthesis

 Support the flowers to maximize the likelihood of pollination
 Movement of materials:
-Water
-Mineral ions
 Some stems perform photosynthesis
 Some stems store starch
THE TISSUES THAT MAKE UP THE STEM

 Epidermis
-Doesn’t provide support but protection
-Produces a waxy substance; cuticle provides a
protective barrier against mechanical injury,
water loss and the entry of pathogens
- Regulates the gas exchange
- Some epidermal cells produce hair-like structures
that act as an insulator to reduce transpiration
 Parenchyma

-Unspecialized cells, but can be modified in several ways so they become suitable for storage and
photosynthesis
-The outer layers of parenchyma cells in the stem may contain some chloroplasts
-Some of the parenchyma in the stem is modified into collenchyma and sclerenchyma
 Collenchyma
 Thick cellulose primary cell wall, thicker at their corners
 Thick cell walls provide mechanical support
 Irregular thickening and non-lignified cell walls
 Found around the outside of the stems, inside the epidermis to give
support and stretch as the plant grows
 SCLERENCHYMA
 Modified parenchyma tissue
 They develop as the plant gets bigger to support the increasing weight of the upper part of the plant
 Found around vascular bundles in older stems and leaves
 They have strong secondary cell wall
of cellulose microfibrils
 They form strong, flexible fibers;
lignified cell walls
 When lignified, cell contents die
as water can’t pass through lignin,
so fibers are hollow tubes
 Have simple pits to connect cells
 Cells can become completely impregnated
with lignin to form scleroids; very tough cells
found in groups
TRANSPORT TISSUES IN PLANTS
The main transport tissues are the xylem and phloem associated together in vascular bundles throughout the plant
including the stem, roots and leaves

 Xylem tissue
-carries water and dissolved mineral ions from the
roots to the photosynthetic parts of the plant
The movement in the xylem is always upwards
- most of the xylem cells are dead
- Long tubular structures called xylem vessels
 Phloem
-living tissue made of phloem cells which transport
the dissolved product of photosynthesis (sucrose) from the
leaves to where it is needed for growth or storage as starch
- The flow through phloem can go both up and down the plant
 Cambium
- a layer of unspecialised cells which divide, giving rise to more specialised cells that form both the xylem and the
 XYLEM
-The xylem starts off as living tissue
-The first xylem the plant makes is called the protoxylem
-It can stretch and grow because the walls are not fully lignified
-The cellulose microfibrils in the walls of the xylem vessels are
arranged vertically in the stem which increases the strength
and allows it to resist the compression forces from the weight
of the plant pressing down on it
- Increasing amounts of lignin are incorporated into the
cell walls as the stem ages and the cells stop growing
- Cells become impermeable to water and other substances,
the tissue becomes stronger and the contents of the cells die
- This lignified tissue is called the metaxylem
- The end walls between the cells mostly break down so the
xylem forms hollow tubes which go from the roots to the tip
of the stems and leaves
 Water and mineral ions are transported from roots to leaves and shoots in the
transpiration stream
 Water moves out of xylem into surrounding cells through
pits in the walls of the xylem vessels
 In large plats, the lignified xylem vessels are very strong and
help to support the stems of plants
 In smaller non-woody plants, the turgid parenchyma cells
provide most of the support, as well as the
sclerenchyma and collenchyma
 Water moves by osmosis from the xylem in the veins of leaves into the mesophyll cells
 Water then evaporates from the cell walls of the mesophyll cells into the air spaces
 Water vapor moves through stomata into the external air along diffusion gradient
 Loss of water vapor from the surface of the plant, mainly from leaves; transpiration
 Apoplastic pathway:
Water is pulled by attraction between
water molecules across adjacent cell
walls from the root hair cells to xylem

 Symplastic pathway:
Water moves through
interconnected cytoplasm
(symplast) of the root cells
through plasmodesmata down a
water potential gradient
 PHLOEM
-a living tissue that transports food in the form of organic solutes around the plant
-Materials in the phloem can be transported both up and down the stems in a process called translocation
-The phloem consists of many cells joined to make very long tubes
-Phloem cells are not lignified
-The walls between the cells become perforated creating specialised sieve plates and the phloem sap flows
through the holes in these plates
-The nucleus, tonoplast and some organelles break down as the
gaps in the sieve plates are made
- The phloem sieve tube becomes a tube filled with phloem sap
and the mature phloem cells have no nucleus
- They survive because they are closely associated
with cells called companion cells
 COMPANION CELLS
 very active cells have normal organelles
 Linked to the sieve tube by plasmodesmata
 Cell membrane has many infoldings that increase the surface area over which they transport sucrose into cell
cytoplasm
 They also have many mitochondria to supply the ATP needed for active transport
Xylem Phloem
Lignified cell walls Non-lignified cell walls

Dead cells/ hollow structure/ no end Living cells

walls
Pits No pits

No sieve plates Sieve plates

No companion cells Companion cells

SUPPORT AND TRANSPORT THROUGHOUT THE PLANT

 Water, mineral ions and sugars need to be transported all over the plant
 The support and strength provided by the sclerenchyma and the xylem
 The roots need to be able to cope with the bending and straining forces as the plant moves in the wind and as
the weight of leaves, flowers and fruit increase
 The leaves need to be held flat so they can capture as much sunlight as possible
 THE IMPORTANCE OF WATER
AND MINERALS IN PLANTS
 Water

 Most of the reactions of animal life take place in water

 90% of the plant is water
 Plants need water for photosynthesis
 Plants need water for support; pressure that builds up as water moves into the vacuoles of the cells by osmosis
forces the cytoplasm against the cell walls making the cells rigid
 Plants need water for transport; mineral ions are carried around the plant in the xylem by transpiration
Sugars are carried around the plant in the phloem, dissolved in the water and moved by active transport
 Plants need water to keep them cool; the evaporation of water from the leaves helps cool the plant
 Minerals

 NITRATES
-Used to make amino acids and therefore proteins including plant enzymes
-Needed to make DNA and many hormones
-When plants lack nitrates, the older leaves turn yellow and die and growth is stunted and the plant dies
 CALCIUM
-Calcium ions in the middle lamella of plant cell walls combine with pectin to make the calcium pectate which
holds plant cells together
-Calcium ions are also important in the
permeability of membranes
- When plants lack calcium, the growing points die back and the young leaves are yellow and crinkly
 MAGNESIUM
-Magnesium ions are needed to produce the green pigment chlorophyll which traps the light needed for
photosynthesis
-Magnesium is needed for the activation of some plant enzymes and the synthesis of nucleic acids
-Without magnesium, yellow areas develop on the older leaves and growth slows down
 Phosphorus
-Involved in the structure of:
 cell membrane phospholipids
 nucleic acids
 ATP
- When plants lack phosphates, very dark green leaves with purple veins develop and stunted growth
 USING PLANT STARCH AND FIBRES

 Plants provide materials for food, building, clothing, medicines, dyes and fuel
 Plants provide the macronutrients of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins and also many micronutrients of
vitamins and minerals
 Fibers in the cellulose cell walls help in the process of digestion

 Some plants are grown as staple foods; energy supplying foods in the diet
Many of these have cells filled with
amyloplasts which store starch to survive difficult conditions
They may also be used to reproduce the species;
many seeds such as wheat and rice
This store of energy provides plenty of
carbohydrate, protein, oils and micronutrients
 Plant products including olives, sunflowers, linseed and many nuts are used for the oils they contain

 Beans, peas, lentils, soya beans and chickpeas provide much of the protein requirement

 Fleshy and succulent fruits including dates and bananas are sources of sugars and vitamins
 PLANT FIBRES
 Plant fibers are used to make ropes, paper and cloth
 Fibers should be extracted
 The fibres are very long sclerenchyma cells and xylem tissue and are usually very tough and strong
 Cellulose and lignified cellulose are not easily broken down either by chemicals or by enzymes, the matrix of
pectates and other compounds around the fibres (including lignin) can be dissolved or removed
 Plant fibres have great tensile strength; cannot easily be broken by pulling (under tension)
 Plant fibres are flexible bundles of fibres
Determining tensile strength
 Tensile strength is the resistance of a material to breaking when it is under tension; how much can it be
stretched before it breaks
 Different types of fibre have different tensile strengths
 Tensile strength is affected by the cross sectional area of the fiber
 Tensile strength is calculated as a factor of force divided by cross sectional area of fiber

Investigating the tensile strengths of different fibres:

 Extract the fibres from the plants
-Soak plant stems and leave them until the tissue surrounding the fibres is soft and rotting
-Then wash the rotten tissue away, leaving the fibers
 To test the tensile strength of the fibres you will need to clamp them at both ends and apply a measured force
to the middle of the fiber
For example, you can hang masses from the fibres. These may be very light masses, such as paperclips, or they
may be relatively large, depending on the amount and type of fibre you are testing

 Measure the force needed to break the fibre

HOW FIBRES ARE PROCESSED TO MAKE PRODUCTS

 Retting is a microbial process in which fibers get loosened for an easy separation from woody stalks
 During retting, pectin and other substances are removed from the plants by the action of water and
microbiological action
 Natural retting has been replaced by manufacturing processes using chemicals and enzymes, which makes
the process faster
 Natural fibres
 Producing fibers relies on natural decomposers breaking down materials around the fibers; retting

 Cotton
 Produced in the form of pure fibers packed around the seeds
 Single cotton fiber cells are very long but not long enough to be useful on their own
 Spinning pulls out the short, single fibers and twists them together to form a long continuous thread
Spinning can be done on a small scale by individual people, but usually happens on a massive industrial scale
The resulting threads are then woven together to make a fabric
 Synthetic fibers; nylon and polyester
 Quite cheap
 Very hardwearing and did not crease

Limitations of artificial fibers:

 Fabrics made from them don’t 'breathe' and they don’t absorb liquid,
so they don’t absorb body fluids such as sweat
 Made from non-sustainable resource; chemicals from crude oil,
which gets increasingly expensive
 Wood
 Composite material made of lignified cellulose fibers embedded in hemicelluloses and lignin
 The cellulose fibers make the wood very resistant to compression; weight-bearing in buildings
 Intermeshing cellulose fibers make it flexible;
it doesn't crack when you hammer a nail into it or
cut out small pieces to make joints without damaging
the strength of the wood
 Paper is usually made from fibers from wood that
not easy to extract because of lignin, so wood is soaked
in very strong alkalis such as soda to produce a pulp
which consists of cellulose and lignified cellulose
fibers in water
 Thin layers of pulp are then pressed onto frames
where they dry to make paper
 Uses of wood:
 Making baskets, boats, cricket bats or furniture to building homes
 Insulator so homes built mainly from wood need less heating in the winter and cooling in the summer than a
brick house
 Locking up carbon dioxide; a sustainable resource; can be grown, will not run out
 Carbon neutral - taking in carbon as it grows and releasing it as it is burnt;
renewable energy source
 PLASTICS
 Synthetic polymers; long chain molecules made of monomers ethene and propene
 Plastics vary from soft flexible solids with low melting points to hard brittle materials with high melting points
 Used to make many products from packaging to artificial joints to cutlery to cars
 Most plastics are made from oil; nonrenewable resource, they are nonbiodegradable
 Some plastics can be melted down and recycled
 Bioplastics
 Biological polymers such as starch and cellulose
 TYPES OF BIOPLASTIC
 Cellulose-based plastics
-made from wood pulp
-used to make plastic wrapping for food; cellophane

 Thermoplastic starch
-made mainly from starch which is extracted from potatoes and maize, then mixed with other compounds such
as gelatin
-used to make capsules to contain drugs; thermoplastic starch is smooth, shiny and easy to swallow
 Polylactic acid (PLA)
-biodegradable
-produced from maize or sugar cane
-Uses in computer casings, mobile phones and drinking cups

 Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB)
-biopolymer; polypropene
- used in ropesnand car parts

 When bioplastics are broken down by decomposers they can produce methane, a greenhouse gas that can be
very damaging to the environment
 The energy released during burning can be used to generate electricity and make more plastics
 Bioplastics are more expensive than oil-based plastics
 When land is used to grow crops for sustainable development such as bioplastics or biofuels, its no longer
available for growing food
 There are no enough crops for everyone to feed everyone
 Plants produce a vast range of chemical substances
 some have the function of deterring animals that try to eat the plant
 some have the function of destroying microorganisms that might
cause disease

 Bacterial infections and fungal infections cause loss of plants

we need for food and other materials
Bacterial growth
 Bacteria need plenty of food, oxygen, water and warm temperature
 Bacteria are grown on agar plates; agar provides all the nutrients for the growth of bacteria
 It is important to take great care when culturing microorganisms because:
 risk of a mutant strain arising that may be pathogenic
 risk of contamination of the culture by pathogenic microorganisms from the environment
 Contamination of the culture because of the entry of any other microorganisms from the air or your skin

 Aseptic techniques should be used to keep everything sterile and uncontaminated by other microorganisms
 Boiling the culture medium before use
 Flaming or disinfecting of the instruments
 Keeping lids off for the minimum time
 Disinfecting the bench (before or after working)
 Autoclaving used plates (high pressure and temperature; steam sterilization)
PLANT DEFENCES AGAINST MICROORGANISMS

 Many plants have evolved chemical defenses to kill any microbes which will invade and cause disease
 These chemical defenses can include both antiseptic compounds and antibiotics
For example, cotton plants produce a phenol called gossypol; it is an antiseptic which kills bacteria that might
attack the seed
 People are increasingly looking at antimicrobial chemicals from plants to provide drugs to treat bacterial
diseases in humans

ANTIMICROBIAL PLANT EXTRACTS

 Some plants and fungi have been shown to have antimicrobial properties; they contain chemicals that kill
bacteria and fungi
 The antimicrobial properties of different plant extracts can be investigated; agar culture plates are used to grow
bacterial cultures with discs of filter paper soaked in plant extract placed on the agar
 If the plant extract kills the bacteria, or stops them growing, you can see a clear area of agar around the disc
EXTRACTING DRUGS FROM PLANTS

 Plants produce compounds have effects from pain relief to destroying cancer cells
For example, salicylic acid is a drug derived from a species of willow
Willow bark was chewed or brewed up into a drink to relieve pain and fever
Scientists discovered that the active ingredient in the bark was salicylic acid and developed a method to extract
and purify it
Now we take a carefully measured dose of a closely related
but safer compound, acetylsalicylic acid,
in the form of a small white tablet called aspirin
 One of the major advantages of extracting and purifying the beneficial drugs found in plants is that it is
possible to give known, repeatable doses of the active ingredient
 The levels of a chemical in a plant will vary with the age of the plant, the season of the year or the time of day
 By extracting the chemicals and purifying them, an exact dose can be achieved every time

 The impact of these plant-sourced drugs:

 People are less severely ill

 People are living longer
 Development of plant-based medicines
For example, malaria is a life-threatening disease spread by mosquitoes and is common in many tropical areas
Quinine, comes from the cinchona tree, is used to prevent and treat malaria
The use of quinine made it possible for loggers and developers to work in the Amazon Basin
WILLIAM WITHERING AND DIGITALIS SOUP

The story of William Withering and his development of an effective treatment for heart failure is a clear example
from history of the way effective medicines can be extracted from plants

 Digitalis is a chemical found in foxgloves that has been used in curing ‘the dropsy’; swelling (oedema) that
results when the circulation is failing, slow death as organs like the kidneys fail, the legs swell and the lungs fill
with fluid
 A new medicine has to be:

 Effective: cures, prevents or relieves the symptoms of the disease for which it is designed
 Safe: non-toxic and without unacceptable side-effects
 Stable: can be stored for some time and used under normal conditions
 Easily taken into and removed from your body: able to get to its target in your body and to be excreted once it
has done its job
 Can be made on a large scale: can be manufactured in a very pure form, in large quantities and quite -cheaply
 One way scientists can look for new medicines is to investigate chemicals that bind to our protein receptors or
to the active sites in our enzymes
 Researchers often use computer models to fit new structures into the active site of enzymes or receptors that
they think are important in disease processes
 The new compound is first tested on cell cultures, tissue cultures and whole organs in the lab
 Before a drug can be tried on people you need a way of getting it into them; might be tablets, a liquid
medicine, injections or a nasal spray
 The drug will be tested on animals to find out how it works in a whole organism; this shows if the drug gets
taken into the cells, if it is changed chemically in the body and if it is excreted safely
 The most widely used animals are mice and rats
 Some tests must be carried out in two species, a rodent and a non-rodent
 Animal testing is very expensive and time-consuming
and is the center of much ethical debate
 Animals are replaced by tissue cultures and computer
models wherever possible
CLINICAL TRIALS

 If the animal testing has been successful, human trials follow

 Phase 1
 The new drug (or in some cases placebo) is given to a small number of healthy volunteers
This is to check that the drug works as expected in the human body and doesn't cause any unexpected side-
effects

 Phase 2
 This is when the new drug is used with patients affected by the target disease
 Between 100 and 500 patient volunteers are given the new drug, and a similar number are given the best
current treatment or sometimes a placebo
 The volunteer patients are closely monitored to find out more about the ideal dose, the effectiveness of the
drug and any side-effects

 Phase 3
 Drug is tested on thousands of patients with the target disease ( 1000-3000)
 Patients receive the new medicine or placebo
 Used to confirm the effectiveness and safety of the new drug
 The numbers of patients involved are large, so the trials also have a better chance of showing up any
unexpected adverse side-effects
 In drug trials, some of the people will be given a placebo; a control and it helps removes the possibility that
people feel better just because they think they are getting a new drug
 DOUBLE-BLIND TRIALS
 Phase 2 and 3 trials are normally carried out as double-blind trials; neither the doctor nor the patient knows
whether the patient is receiving the new medicine, a control medicine or a placebo
William Withering digitalis soup Modern trials
No testing on animals Testing on animals

No double blind trial Double blind trial

No testing on healthy volunteers Testing on healthy volunteers

No controlled variables Controlled variables

Testing on small and large samples Testing on small and large samples