Question

Striking difference between a plant cell and an animal cell is due to the presence of:
A. Centrosome
B. Plasma membrane
C. Cell wall
D. Chloroplast

Answer 1

: In the cells of some protists, fungi, algae, and plants, it is a protective semi-transparent covering outside the cell. It is significantly thick, strong and rigid. This implies that it is soft, foldable and not as heavy as plant tissue.

Complete step by step answer: So that protective semi-transparent covering outside the cell is called a cell wall. Cell wall, a specialised type of extracellular matrix that covers every cell in a plant. The cell wall is accountable for many of the features which distinguish plant cells from animal cells. While often viewed as an inert product serving primarily mechanical and structural functions, the cell wall really has a wide variety of functions with which plant life depends.
Both cell walls have two layers, the middle lamella and the main cell wall, and several cells create an additional layer called a secondary wall. The middle lamella is a solidifying layer between the primary walls of the neighbouring cells. The primary wall is the cellulose-containing layer of cells that divide and expand. To support cell wall expansion during development, the primary walls are thinner and less rigid than those of cells that have stopped growing.
Hence, the correct answer is option C, 'Cell wall'.

Additional Information:
Such roles of cell wall shall include the following:
-Provide a living cell with mechanical protection and a chemically buffered atmosphere
-Providing a porous medium for the circulation and distribution of water, minerals and other small nutrient molecules;
-Provide rigid building blocks from which stable structures of higher order, such as leaves and stems, can be made.
-Provide a storage site for regulatory molecules that sense the presence of pathogenic microbes and regulate the growth of tissues.

Note: Secondary cell walls are accountable for much of the mechanical support of the plant and also for the mechanical properties of wood. Unlike the permanent stability and load-bearing capability of thick secondary walls, thin primary walls are capable of serving a structural, supporting function only when the vacuoles inside the cell are covered in water to the extent that they exert a turgor pressure against the cell wall.