Multiple vacuoles in plant cells: rule or exception?
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 4, 2026

Isolation and Purification of Plant Extracellular Vesicles from Arabidopsis Leaves Using an Optimized Apoplastic Wash Collection Method
Published on: March 24, 2026
Lorenzo Frigerio1, Giselbert Hinz, David G Robinson
1Department of Biological Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK. l.frigerio@warwick.ac.uk
Abstract:
It is generally accepted that plant cells can contain multiple vacuoles with different functions, for example lytic vacuoles with lysosome-like properties and protein storage vacuoles for reserve accumulation. Recent data call into question the generality of this theory. In this study, we review the published evidence for the existence of multiple vacuoles. We conclude that the multivacuole hypothesis is valid for a number of cases, but care should be taken before assuming that it applies universally.
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