Vacuoles · Botany

During plasmolysis, what happens to the central vacuole?

  1. It absorbs excess water and swells until it bursts.
  2. It loses water and shrinks in volume.
  3. It absorbs more salts to stay turgid.
  4. It fragments into several smaller vesicles.
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Correct answer: It loses water and shrinks in volume.

When a cell is placed in a hypertonic solution, water leaves the vacuole via osmosis. This loss of turgor causes the vacuole and the surrounding cytoplasm to contract away from the rigid cell wall.

Difficulty: Medium Question 11 of 20

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