It performs intracellular digestion. It also helps in destroying foreign substances.

  It provides protection, shape and rigidity to the cell. It is freely permeable, allowing substances in the form of solutions to enter and leave the cell without any hindrance.

  It is the house of all metabolic activities and functions in the cell. In other words, it contains most of the cell organelles, each of which perform a specific function.

  It initiates and regulates cell division. It also helps in forming spindle fibres, with the help of asters.