Article
Article
Vacuole
Article By:
Hicks, Glenn R. Plant Biotechnology Group, Exelixis Pharmaceuticals, South San Francisco, California.
Raikhel, Natasha V. Department of Energy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.
Last reviewed:September 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.725300
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- Vacuole, published June 2014:Download PDF
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A membrane-bound cavity within a cell that may function in digestion, storage, secretion, or excretion. A vacuole is an intracellular compartment (bounded by a single membrane lipid bilayer) that functions as a primary site of protein and metabolite degradation and recycling in animals, but serves additional complex functions in plants, fungi, and protists (Fig. 1). Scientists who study vacuoles also define them as the terminal products of the secretory pathway. The secretory pathway functions to transport protein- and metabolite-containing membrane vesicles from sites of synthesis or uptake to the vacuole. See also: Cell (biology); Cell membrane; Protein; Protein degradation
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