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AAT Bioquest

Do plant cells have lysosomes?

Posted November 30, 2022


Answer

Plant cells do not have lysosomes, for a few reasons. First, plant cells have cell walls durable enough to keep foreign substances that lysosomes would typically digest out. Second, plant cells have vacuoles containing hydrolytic enzymes that function similarly to lysosomes in an animal cell. These reasons together make it structurally unnecessary for plant cells to need lysosomes. There is some debate whether plant cells could have lysosomes, as many processes are possible in biology, but scientists agree only in very rare cases could plant cells have lysosomes.  

Additional resources

Cell Navigator® Lysosome Staining Kit *Deep Red Fluorescence*

Comparing Plant and Animal Cells

LysoBrite™ NIR