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Chapter 3: Tissues in ActionClass 9 Science — summary, notes, extra questions & NCERT solutions
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A group of similar cells working together to perform a specific function is called a:
Summary
Building on the cell, this chapter explains how similar cells group together as tissues so that a multicellular body can share out work (division of labour) and grow more efficiently. Because plants are usually fixed in place and make their own food while animals move and ingest food, their tissues differ. Plant tissues are either meristematic (actively dividing) or permanent (specialised, mostly non-dividing). There are three meristems — apical (at root and shoot tips, gives growth in length), lateral (a ring inside the stem, gives growth in girth and forms annual rings), and intercalary (at the base of internodes, lets grasses regrow after cutting). When meristematic cells stop dividing and become specialised, the process is called differentiation, forming permanent tissues. Permanent tissues are simple (one cell type — parenchyma stores food, collenchyma gives flexible support, sclerenchyma gives hard rigid strength) or complex (xylem carries water and minerals upward; phloem carries food). The protective epidermis bears a waxy cuticle, root hairs and stomata. Plant tissues are organised into dermal, ground and vascular tissue systems. Animal tissues are of four kinds: epithelial (covering and lining; flat, columnar, glandular or sensory), connective (blood, bone, cartilage, tendons, ligaments — cells set in a matrix), muscular (skeletal/voluntary striated, smooth/involuntary, and cardiac in the heart) and nervous (neurons with cell body, dendrites and axon). Finally, bones, muscles, joints, cartilage, tendons and ligaments form the musculoskeletal system controlled by the nervous system, with joints such as ball-and-socket, hinge, pivot and fixed types.
Why plant and animal tissues differMeristematic tissues and differentiationSimple and complex permanent tissuesEpithelial, connective, muscular and nervous tissuesJoints and the musculoskeletal system
Key terms
Meristematic tissue
Tissue of small, thin-walled, dividing cells with dense cytoplasm and no vacuole, responsible for plant growth.
Differentiation
The process by which dividing meristematic cells become specialised permanent cells for support, transport or storage.
Xylem and phloem
Complex permanent (vascular) tissues — xylem carries water and minerals upward, phloem carries food made in leaves to the rest of the plant.
Epithelial tissue
Animal tissue forming the outer covering of the body and the lining of internal organs; cells are closely packed.
Connective tissue
Tissue that connects and supports other tissues (blood, bone, cartilage, tendons, ligaments); cells lie in a matrix.
Neuron
The cell of nervous tissue, with a cell body, dendrites and an axon, specialised to receive and transmit messages.
Musculoskeletal system
The system of bones, muscles, joints, cartilage, tendons and ligaments that supports the body and produces movement under nervous control.
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Tissue of small, thin-walled, dividing cells with dense cytoplasm and no vacuole, responsible for plant growth.
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