The cell wall covers plant cells.
The cell wall is what covers prokaryotic cells and plant cells . It is a rigid mantle that is located outside the plasma membrane , helping to form the structure of the cell and providing protection to its components. The cell wall is said to be responsible for mediation between the cell and its environment.
The particularities of the cell wall vary depending on the organism in question. This may be a layer of chitin (in the case of fungi), cellulose (plants), peptidoglycan (bacteria), or other materials.
Etymology of the concept
Latin is where we can find the etymological origin of the concept. And the two words that make it up derive from that language: wall emanates from parĭes , while cellular is the result of the evolution of cellullaris , which means "relative to cells" and is composed of three clearly differentiated parts ( cella , which is synonymous with “cell” ; the suffix -ula , which is diminutive; and the suffix -ar , which is used to indicate “relative to” ).
It should be noted that wall is a word in our language that has several meanings. It may be a wall or something that provides a limit to a surface or body. Cellular , for its part, is the adjective that indicates what is linked to cells (the fundamental element of a living being) or that mentions a mobile phone.
The cell wall provides rigidity to the structure of fungi.
Functions of the cell wall in plants
Specifically, in the case of plant species we could say that the cell wall has the following functions:
- It is responsible for safeguarding the contents of the cell.
- Protects it from different diseases.
- It regulates the growth of plants since it contains molecules specialized in that task.
- It manages to provide rigidity to the cellular structure.
- It provides the cell with a porous system that is what proceeds to correctly distribute water and circulate it in the best possible way. It must be established that this function is also carried out with minerals and other substances such as nutrients.
In plants , likewise, the cell wall provides support and can be divided, depending on the species, into primary wall (which adapts to the development of cells), secondary wall (the sector closest to the plasma membrane) and middle lamella (the space that links the primary cell walls of a pair of contiguously located cells).
Other types
The cell walls of fungi give hardness to their structure and allow them to retain their shape. They also function as a barrier to prevent toxic elements from entering the fungus.
Bacteria and algae also have cell walls with specific characteristics and components. In the case of the bacterial cell wall, we would have to say that there are two types of them: gram-negative and gram-positive . Regarding algae, we can state that their cell wall is composed of polysaccharides, cellulose and glycoproteins, for example.