NON LIVING

INCLUSIONS OF PLANT
CELLS
INTRODUCTION
• In addition to cell organelles, plant cells may contain
several non-living materials also.
• They are collectively called non living cell inclusions or
ergastic substances
• They are distributed in the cytoplasm, inside vacuoles
and in the cell wall
• Cell inclusions are of three groups, namely
• Reserve food materials
• Secretory substances
• Excretory products or waste products
 CELL INCLUSIONS

Reserve food materials Secretory materials Excretory products

• Pigments
• Nectar
Nitrogenous Non Nitrogenous • Oil Nitrogenous Non Nitrogenous
• Proteins • Fats • Latex • Alkaloids • Gums
• Amino acids • Oils • Resins
• Waxes • Tannins
• Carbohydrates • Mucilage
• Organic acids
• Volatile oils
Water soluble Water insoluble • Mineral crystals
• Simple sugars • Starch (Beta amylose/Amylopectin)
• Inulin • Hemicellulose
• Glycogen • Cellulose Calcium carbonate Calcium oxalate
• Starch (Alpha amylose) • Cystoliths • Raphides
• Idioblasts
• Druses
• Prismatic crystals
• Sand crystals
• Silica crystals
I. RESERVE FOOD MATERIALS
• These are the complex food materials, synthesized
and stored by plant cells from simple constituents in
excess of their demand
• A part of the synthesized food is used by the plant to
synthesise protoplasm, another part is enzymatically
oxidized to release energy, and the remainder is
stored in the cells as reserve food
• In some plants, the reserve food is stored in
underground stem, in some others in roots, and in still
others in seeds
CARBOHYDRATES
• They are of two types – water soluble and water
insoluble
• Water insoluble carbohydrates include starch,
hemicellulose and cellulose
• Water soluble carbohydrates are found in
cytoplasm and vacuole sap. They include simple
sugars, inulin and glycogen
 STARCH
• Starch is a condensation polymerization of glucose units and
consists of two kinds of glucose polymers, namely alpha amylose
and beta amylose (amylopectin)
• Alpha amylose is unbranched and water-soluble, whereas
amylopectin is water-insoluble and branched
• Starch usually appears in the form of variously shaped grains,
which commonly stain bluish black with a solution of iodine or
potassium iodide
• Starch grains are formed first in chloroplasts. Later, they break
down and move as sugar to storage tissues where starch is
resynthesized in amyloplasts
• Starch grains are abundant in the storage organs of plants,
such as tuberous roots, underground stems, grains of
cereals, fruits, etc.
• Starch grains have different shapes that are characteristic
of the plant types. They are oval in potato, flat in wheat,
polygonal in maize, spherical in pulses and dumb-bell
shaped in the latex cells of some euphorbias. Size also
differs
• Starch grains show layering around a core point, termed
hilum. Based on the position of hilum two kinds of starch
grains can be recognized, concentric and eccentric
• In concentric grains, hilum is in the centre. But in eccentric
grains, hilum is at one end.
• In most cases, starch grains are distinctly separate from
each other and each of them has its own hilum. Such
solitary grains are called simple grains. But in some cases
(e.g. Oryza sativa, Avena sativa etc.) two or more grains
fuse to form a compound grain with more than one hilum
• Starch grains are usually oval, globular, or polygonal. The
position of the hilum, the shape and size of the grains, and
their solitary or compound nature are significant in plant
identification
 INULIN
• Inulin is a water-soluble reserve
polysaccharide, found in solution in the cell
sap of the tuberous roots of some members
of Compositae, Companulaceae and
monocotyledons (e.g., Dahlia, Helianthus
tuberosus, etc.)
• In contrast to starch, it occurs only in solution
HEMICELLULOSE
• Hemicellulose is a collective term for beta and gamma
celluloses
• Hemicelluloses are alkali soluble
heteropolysaccharides, composed mainly of hexoses
(mannose and galactose) and pentoses (xylose and
arabinose). They may also contain glucuronic acid and
galacturonic acid
• Xylans, arabinan, galactans, mannans, glucans, etc.
are hemicelluloses
• Just as cellulose, hemicelluloses also are chain-like
molecules. But, their chains are non-crystalline,
usually shorter, and may have only short branches
• Hemicelluloses, most usually, make up the
amorphous matrix of plant cell walls, together with
pectic substances. Only very rarely they are stored as
reserve food. However, in some seeds, they form a
reserve food (endosperms of palm seeds, including
dates)
CELLULOSE
• Cellulose is typically a structural constituent of
cell wall. Still, in some cases, additional layers of
cellulose get deposited over the cell wall as
reserve food. Palm seed is a typical example.
SUGARS
• Sugars, most abundant in plants, include glucose
(dextrose or grape sugar), fructose (laevulose or
fruit sugar) and sucrose (cane sugar)
• Glucose and fructose are monosaccharides. But,
sucrose is a disaccharide and it is the ordinary
table sugar obtained from sugarcane or sugar
beets
 PROTEINS
• Amorphous protein is found in the outermost endosperm layer,
the aleurone layer, of the carypopsis of rice, maize, peas, bens,
castor, etc.
• Usually, protein exists as granules, called aleurone grains.
• An aleurone grain consists of two ovoid or crystalloid bodies,
enclosed within a proteinaceous membrane. They are known
respectively as globoids and crystalloids.
• Globoids are minerals deposits, formed mostly of the phosphates
of Ca and Mg, whereas crystalloids are protein bodies.
• Protein, in the form of cuboidal crystalloids, is found in the
peripheral parenchyma of potato tuber and in the fruit
parenchyma of Capsicum.
• Crystalline and amorphous proteins are found in the
endosperms and embryos of many seeds
• These grains are formed from readily soluble proteins with
globular molecules and relatively low molecular wight.
They accumulate in the vacuoles of storage cells. From the
liquid in these vacuoles, water is lost by dehydration. This
causes the various vacuolar components to precipitate
and crystallize
 OILS AND FATS

• Oils and fats are important reserve materials in plants

• They are insoluble in water, but soluble in organic solvents, such as
ether, chloroform, petroleum, etc.
• They are most commonly present in the cytoplasm or vacuole of
seeds and fruits as globules or droplets.
• Fats and oils are glycerides of fatty acids. The distinction between
them is commonly based on their physical properties; fats are
solid and oils liquid at normal temperatures.
• Fats and oils may be produced in elaioplasts or spherosomes.
Special types of fats and oils are found in the fruits and seeds of
some flowering plants (e.g. castor, mustard, coconut, etc.)
AMINO COMPOUNDS
• These are simple nitrogenous food materials found in
the cell sap in the form of amino acids and amines
II. SECRETORY MATERIALS
• These are the synthetic products of the cell, or the
substances secreted by the protoplasm
• They are not useful to plants as nutritional products,
but they may promote or accelerate various reactions
within the cell
• The major secretory products include pigments,
enzymes, nectar, oils, latex, etc.
 PIGMENTS
• Chlorophylls and anthocyanins are the important plant
pigments
• Chlorophyll is secreted by the chloroplasts
• It is a vital product, essential for photosynthesis
• Anthocyanins are the secretory products of protoplasm,
stored in the vacuole sap.
• They impart colour to the petals of various flowers and
enhance their beauty to attract insect pollinators
NECTAR
• Nectar is produced in nectaries that are present
in flowers. Insects visit the flowers mainly for
collecting nectar
• Honeybees convert this nectar into honey which
is extensively used by man for nutritional,
medicinal and other purposes
OILS
• Many oils, secreted by plants, have considerable
economic value.
• Olive oil is widely used in a variety of ways. Sunflower
oil is increasingly important by virtue of its
unsaturated nature; it is important in the production
of margarine and cooking oil.
• Palm oil is used in margarine, and also in the
manufacture of soap and candles
 LATEX
• Latex is a juicy secretion, found in many flowering plants and
some agaric fungi like Lactarius. It is often milky in appearance.
But it can also be clear, colourless and transparent, yellow,
orange, or brown
• Latex is stored in laticifers. In plants, it is stored in latex vessels
and in fungi in latex ducts. Latex vessels are branching and
anastomosing tubes, formed by the enlargement and union of
chains of latex cells. The latex ducts of fungi are formed of
branching and anastomosing hyphae
• When the latex tubes of plants are cut or injured, latex exudes
out.
• Rubber, opium, chewing gum and other substances are produced
from coagulated latex
• The exact biological function of latex is not definitely understood.
It is generally believed that latex is involved in wound healing and
also it serves as a repository for excretory substances
• Latex is a complex and variable emulsion or suspension. Its
composition is different in different plants. Its commonest
constituents include terpenes, gums, resins, tannins, waxes,
alkaloids, proteins, sugars, starch, oils, enzymes, crystals, some
toxic substances, etc. Crystals of malates and oxalates are
abundantly found in latex
• Latex of plants may be transparent or clear (e.g., Morus, Nerium,
etc.), or milky (e.g., Euphorbia, Asclepias, Calotropis, Ficus,e tc.).
It is yellow-brown in Cannabis, and orange or yellow in several
members of Papaveraceae
III. WASTE MATERIALS OR EXCRETORY
MATERIALS