Isolation and characterization of subcellular organelles from plant cells

Plant cell biology includes the study of the different components of cell, that is, subcellular organelles. The presence of organelles is one of the main features of eukaryotic cells. The recent advent of in-depth research involving the signaling cascades, metabolic gradients, and proteomics of cellular organelles has led to the development of new techniques for organelle isolation and characterization. This chapter provides an overview of the techniques that are routinely being employed for the isolation of plant organelles as well as their characterization. Plant cell organelles differ from those of animal cell organelles: notably, cell wall, plastid, and a large vacuole; animal cells have, in general, numerous small vacuoles and lack some structures such as the chloroplast. There are different methods that are currently being used for isolation of pure fractions of subcellular organelles based on the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the organelles.