Skip to content

Vacuoles

A vacuole is a membrane-bound cell organelle.Plant cells have large permanent vacuoles. Animal cells have vacuoles but they are small and temporary. The Vacuole is surrounded by a selectively permeable membrane called the tonoplast.Small molecules such as sugars or pigments in beetroot can be stored in the vacuole.Vacuoles support the plant by maintaining the turgor pressure inside the cell.When the vacuole is filled with water, it pushes the contents of the cell against the cell wall. This keeps the cell rigid and supports the plant.

Read the text

Read the text and highlight anything you think is important. When you go on, the text is hidden and you answer from memory.

Specification: AQA Biology (7401), AS-level, 3.2.1.1 Structure of eukaryotic cells. Topic: Cell Structure.

Key terms in this lesson

turgor pressure
The pressure exerted by the contents of a plant cell against the cell wall as water enters by osmosis, making the cell rigid.

More in Cell Structure

All 26 lessons in Cell Structure · All AQA AS-level Biology topics