Why do plant cells possess large-sized vacuoles?
Question:
Why do plant cells possess large-sized vacuoles?
Hydrostatic Pressure:
Turgor, or hydrostatic, pressure occurs because of osmosis. Osmosis happens when water diffuses into and out of a plant cell due to changes in the concentration gradient of dissolved solutes from the outside to the inside of the cell.
Answer and Explanation: 1
Plant cells have large-sized vacuoles because they must store an adequate amount of water in order to maintain their turgor, or hydrostatic pressure. This helps keep the plant from wilting and enables it to grow upright toward the sunlight. They also have large vacuoles to store food, because unlike animals, plants are mostly stuck in one place and cannot travel around to find food. This means they have to be autotrophs that can store food for lengthy periods of time.
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Chapter 24 / Lesson 13What does the central vacuole do? Learn about the central vacuole function, see its role in photosynthesis and see the central vacuole's structure in plant cells.