A structured nutritional model is proposed to describe growth and nutritional behavior of Eschscholtzia californica suspension cells and Catharanthus roscus and Daucus carota hairy roots in in vitro culture. The model describes the cells specific growth rate from concentration of intracellular nutrients such as inorganic phosphate (Pi), nitrogen sources (NO3- and NH4+) and sugars. Two-level Michaelis-Menten kinetics are used to describe Pi and NO3- uptake and simple Michaelis-Menten kinetics for description of sugars uptake. Model parameters for each cell line were calibrated using data from batch cultures. The predictive capacity of the model was tested using data from medium exchange hairy root cultures. The model describes growth and nutritional behavior for the cell and hairy root lines. A sensitivity analysis was performed to identify critical model parameters and effect of initial conditions. The cell and hairy roots lines are also compared from their kinetic parameters. The kinetic model is efficient for describing and predicting growth and nutritional behaviors of suspension cells and hairy roots.