Vacuole
Cells are the basic building blocks of all living things. All cells are small 'sacks' composed mostly of water. There are millions of different types of cells, but they are divided into two main groups. The first group, Prokaryotes, is made up of very small cells that have no membrane around their nucleus and no organelles with membranes. Prokaryotes include bacteria and are the most common type of cell. The second group of cells is called Eukaryotes. There are many different types of Eukaryotes, but all types share some characteristics. The basic eukaryotic cell has a cell membrane which is also known as a plasma membrane. It has a nucleus, cytoplasm, a cytoskeleton, and membrane-covered organelles. The organelles inside a cell have special jobs that let the cell function like it is supposed to. Each type of organelle has its own individual shape and size. The number of organelles that a specific cell contains depends on what function the cell performs. An example of this would be a cell that uses up a lot of energy would have many mitochondria. Some cells have organelles that other cells do not have. An example of this is the chloroplast in the plant cell. Animal cells do not have chloroplast. Some organelles are very differen
t in plant and animal cells. An example of this is the vacuole. The name vacuole comes form the Latin word vacuus which means empty. The vacuole is a space within a cell that is empty of cytoplasm. Vacuoles come in all different sizes from submicroscopic to almost as big as the whole cell. Vacuoles are sort of like storage bubbles in the cytoplasm in a cell. They are membrane-bound sacs with important jobs like storage, ingestion, digestion, excretion, and expulsion of excess water. The membrane around the vacuole is called the tonoplast. The tonoplast is pretty incredible because it can surround a small amount of fluid and then, after a short amount of time of taking in water, it can stretch to become an organelle that occupies as much as 95 percent of a cell's volume. A vacuole is very important to its cell and has many important functions. Each function is different, but all of the functions are necessary for the survival of a cell. Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia. Volume IV, c. 1981, p.180b.
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