Cell (biology)

Definition

The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all forms of life or organisms. The term comes from the Latin word cellula meaning 'small room'. A biological cell basically consists of a semipermeable cell membrane enclosing cytoplasm that contains genetic material. Most cells are only visible under a microscope. Except for highly-differentiated cell types most cells are capable of replication, and protein synthesis. Some types of cell are motile. Cells emerged on Earth about four billion years ago.

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Glyoxylate cycle Glyoxysome Golgi apparatus Granule (cell biology)Green Revolution Green plant Haploid HeLa cells Hemicellulose Hemidesmosome Heterocyst Heterotroph High-performance liquid chromatography Histone History of biotechnology History of life Homeostasis Homologous chromosome Homologous recombination Honeycomb Horizontal gene transfer Hormogonia Hormone Human Genome Project Hyaluronic acid Hybridoma technology Hydrolase Hydrophilic Hydrophobic Hydrothermal vent Hypha Hypotonic Immune cell Immunity (medicine)Inclusion (cell)Index of biotechnology articles Industrial biotechnology Inner cell mass Intermediate filament Interphase Interstitium Intracellular receptor Intramembrane protease Invertebrate Ion Journal of Theoretical Biology Kidney dialysis Lamellipodium Laminin Last eukaryotic common ancestor Late endosome Latin Lens (optics)Leucoplast Life Lignin Linear chromosome Lipid Lipid bilayer Lipids Lipoprotein List of biotechnology articles List of human cell types List of 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Multicellular Multicellular organism Multinucleated Muscle cell Mutation Mycoplasma Myofibril NCBI Nanobiotechnology National Public Radio Nature (journal)Necroptosis Necrosis Nematode Nervous tissue Nitroplast Non-homologous end joining Nuclear DNA Nuclear bodies Nuclear envelope Nuclear magnetic resonance Nuclear membrane Nuclear pores Nucleoid Nucleolus Nucleotide excision repair Omics Onion Opisthokont Optical microscope Organ (biology)Organelle Organism Organogenesis Osmotic pressure Otto Kandler Outer nuclear membrane Oxidative phosphorylation Oxygen Parakaryon myojinensis Parenthesome Parthanatos Pathogen Pectin Pellicle (biology)Peptide Peptidoglycan Pericentriolar material Peroxide Peroxisome Phagocytosis Phagosome Pharmaceutical company Pharmacogenomics Pharmacology Phase contrast Phospholipid Photoautotroph Photolyase Photorespiration Photosynthesis Pigment Pilin Pilus Planarian Plant Plant cell Plant cuticle Plant hormone Plant hormones Plasma membrane Plasmid Plasmodesmata 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