[Biology Class Notes] on Vacuoles Pdf for Exam

The vacuoles are basically storage bubbles found in the plant cells. They even store food products or different kinds of nutrients that cells need to survive. You can see them in plants and animals. Vacuoles can also be considered fighters, as they safeguard cells as bubbles present in them, and can even store waste material which ultimately protects the remaining part of the cell from contamination. Vacuoles are the backbone for maintaining the structure of plants. They carry both food and water which a cell could need. 

Discovery and Functions of Vacuole

The star-shaped contractile vacuole was firstly seen by the scientist Spallanzi in protozoa in 1776. Dujardin gave them the name vacuole in 1841. This name enabled plant cells to differentiate based on a structure with cell sap from the remaining protoplasm. In 1885 the scientist De vries named the vacuole membrane as ‘’ tonoplast’’. Vacuoles grow by the amalgamation of many membrane vesicles. Maximum plants that are mature have solo large size vacuoles in them. 

Tonoplast is a type of cytoplasmic membrane that surrounds the vacuole. The presence of proteins in the tonoplast membrane checks the water flow inside and outside the vacuole through functional transport. The structure and function of vacuoles depend on the type of cell in which they exist. They are a very crucial part of fungus cells and plants. Vacuoles are also found in some species of Cyanobacteria. With storage, an important function of the central vacuole is the preservation of turgor pressure at cell walls.

Major Functions of Vacuoles are as Follows: