I\'ve read until I\'m blind and while I have a basic understanding of vacuoles..

Question

I've read until I'm blind and while I have a basic understanding of vacuoles....I do not understand the different types in the different cell types. For instance, when I look up an algal cell...it talks about water vacuoles not starch vacuoles likes I"m supposed to learn about. Can anyone help with this?

I need to know the benefits of the following vacuoles as they pertain to specific cells:

1. a starch vacuole in an algal cell
2. a storage vacuole in a fungal cell
3. a water vacuole in a protozoan cell

Thanks. If any of you have any good references that speak a little more "layman-ese", I would appreciate it. My book is way over my head.

Explanation / Answer

Hello!!!!I hope this answer will help you :) Vacuoles are little pockets in the cytoplasm of a cell where a cell stores food. Vacuoles are mostly made of water and amino acids. They have a lipid membrane around them to keep out the salty water of the cytoplasm. Simple cells and prokaryotes generally don't have vacuoles, so vacuoles probably evolved along with the first eukaryotic cells around two billion years ago. 1. A starch vacuole in an algal cell:The difference is especially striking if cells with a colored vacuole content are used. ... The cells of certain algae of the genus Chladophora have many nuclei, they are polyenergid. ... Chloroplasts are the site of starch production and -storage. 2. A storage vacuole in a fungal cell The fungal vacuole is an extremely complex organelle that is involved in a wide variety of functions. The vacuole not only carries out degradative processes, the role most often ascribed to it, but also is the primary storage site for certain small molecules and biosynthetic precursors such as basic amino acids and polyphosphate, plays a role in osmoregulation, and is involved in the precise homeostatic regulation of cytosolic ion and basic amino acid concentration and intracellular pH. 3. Water vacuole in a protozoan cell:The protozoans are grouped into various phyla based on their modes of locomotion. They may use cilia, flagella, or pseudopodia. It seems to take a lazy approach to life by casually stretching out its cytoplasm into extensions called pseudopodia.These extensions can also trap smaller protists within them, which create a food vacuole where the amoeba can digest them. In this case, slow doesn’t mean harmless – the smaller protists really don’t even sense the danger.

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