Are Fruits and Vegetables Made of Cells?

A report by Tamera Anthony, Shaylyn Fetterman,

Jenna Knox, and Angellica Sterling

Are Fruits and Vegetables Made of Cells?

Fruits and vegetables are indeed made of cells. Through research and our own tests we have come to this conclusion.

The Evidence

How did we come to this answer? In school, we are all taught from a very early age that cells are the building blocks of life. Every living thing is made of the microscopic things. With this question it was just a matter of taking what we are told and testing it.

The Evidence

To gain knowledge on cells, we first collected images of cheek and onion cells. These are common tests that have been proven by many people to truly show cells, not just little things that look like them.

The Evidence

Pictured here is a group ofcheek cells collected from one of our group members. With a toothpick, we lightly scraped the inside of her cheek tocollect a small amount of cells. The end was rubbed on a slide and dyed with one drop of Methylene Blue dye. Then, a slide cover was placed on top and both were inserted into our microscope. We looked at the slide under 400x magnification (the high-power objective on our class’s microscopes). The cells were manually sized under the low-power objective-100x magnification-and found to be approximately 60 microns. We then attached theprovided Motic camera and took pictures.

The Evidence

When the pictures weretaken all of our members looked for the cytoplasm,nucleus, and cell membrane. We labeled them, as you can see in the picture. Looking at these cells aided us in our decision because it gave us an idea of what we would find in other cells. It also showed us how they might look.

The Evidence

On the left is a picture ofthe structured cells found inan onion. Labeled are the nucleus, cytoplasm, and cellwall.

To get this picture, we broke a small ring of an onion and pulled off a small sheet of tissues. This was placed on a glass slide and dyed with two drops of iodine. A slide cover was put on and the completed slide was placed on our microscope’s stage. Using the Motic camera, we took a picture of the onion cells on the highest objective and determined size manually. An onion cell is approximately 200 microns.

The Evidence

Our group looked for thesame things in the onion cellthat we had in the cheek cells.Using a few online pictures asreference, we labeled them as you can see in the attached photo. As we looked, we noticed that the cells were shaped differently and all had a very uniform shape to them. These cells provided a different example of cells for reference when looking at other fruit and vegetables as we answered our question.

Evidence Break Down

Cheek Cell Shape- irregular, nearly

circular Size- 60 microns

Onion Cell Shape- fairly uniform,

rectangular Size- 200 microns

Evidence Break Down

Compare Both cells have a visible

nucleus and cytoplasm. They are found in living

things.

Contrast Cheek cells have only a

cell membrane while onion cells have a cell wall.

Animal cells are circular and non-uniform, plant cells are rectangular and very close to uniform.

The Evidence

Pictured here is a magnifiedlayer of a banana peel. As you can see, there are cells. Thisproves that at least bananas have cells.

To get this our group had to peel apart a banana peel and take the thinnest part, which turned out to be the very outer layer-the yellow part you see in a store. This thin piece got placed on a slide, dyed with a drop of Methylene blue, and had a clear slide cover placed on top. When looked at through a microscope on high power, we saw that it had a rectangular shaped cells like the onion. The cell was sized manually and found to be about 57 microns.

The EvidenceOn the left is a picture

of a thin layer of celery. You can see the thick cell wall thatis found in the banana andonion cells.

To get a thin piece of celery, a stalk was broken and one of the outer layers was taken and put on a slide. One drop of Methylene blue dye and a slide cover later, the sample was ready to go under the microscope. The nucleus, cytoplasm, and cell walls were clearly visible under the high and low objectives. The cells, when manually sized, where nearly 47 microns.

Evidence Break Down

Evidence Break Down

The Banana cell Shape- mostly

rectangular Size- 57 microns

The Celery Cell Shape- mostly

rectangular Size- 47 microns

Cheek Cell Shape- irregular, nearly

circular Size- 60 microns

Onion Cell Shape- rectangular Size- 200 microns

Evidence Break Down

Compare The onion, banana, and celery cells all have cell walls. All four have a nucleus and cytoplasm.

Contrast The cheek cells differs in appearance from the other three. Three have cell walls, but the cheek cells does not.

Conclusion

After viewing all the evidence and background information, it can be said that fruits and vegetables are made of cells. If they were not made of cells, why would all four contain small particles that contained

similar structures? The cells may differ slightly in appearance, but on the whole-excluding the cheek

cell-they closely resemble each other. Our group has confidence that if the same tests were to be run on

any other plant you would find the same similarities. In regards to the cheek cells, it differs because it comes from an animal and not a plant. All living

things are made of cells, and since plants are living, they contain cells, too.