Which statement about bacterial cell walls is false?

a) Cell walls provide the cell with a degree of physical protection from the environment.

b) Cell walls prevent cells from dying in hypertonic conditions.

c) Cell walls prevent cells from bursting in hypotonic environments.

d) Bacterial cell walls are similar in function to the cell walls of many protists, fungi, and plants.

e) Bacterial cell walls differ in molecular composition from plant cell walls.

Answer: b) Cell walls prevent cells from dying in hypertonic conditions.

A cell wall is a layer located outside the cell membrane found in plants, fungi and bacteria. The cell wall of bacteria is made up peptidoglycan which gives bacteria a structural support. Peptidoglycan is responsible for the rigidity of the bacterial cell wall and for the determination of it's shape.

A hypertonic solution has a higher concentration of solute and lower concentration of water than the cell. This will cause a net movement of water out of the cell and into the solution by osmosis. Although cell wall is a semipermeable membrane but it will not be able to prevent the water loss. This will result in dehydration of bacterial cell, and cell may die.

Therefore, cell walls does not prevent bacterial cells from dying in hypertonic conditions.