Expert: Tanya - 3/23/2006

Question
Are ribosomes found only in animal cells and nerver in plant cells?  What about a cell membrane?  I know plants have cell walls and animals do not? Can a plant have a cell membrane?

Answer
Hi Lisa,

Ribosomes are found in both animal AND plant cells as ALL cells have to translate mRNA into protein and this is what the ribosomes are used for.

As for the cell membranes, yes, both plant AND animal cells have the cell membrane, but ONLY plant cells have the extra cell wall.  Animal cells do not have a cell wall.

Hope this helps,
Tanya =)

PS: Check out these sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribosome

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_wall

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_membrane