Cell

Cell, in biology, the basic membrane-bound unit that contains the fundamental
molecules of life and of which all living things are composed. A single cell is
often a complete organism in itself, such as a bacterium or yeast. Other cells
acquire specialized functions as they mature. These cells cooperate with other
specialized cells and become the building blocks of large multicellular organisms,
such as humans and other animals. Although cells are much larger than atoms, they
are still very small. The smallest known cells are a group of tiny bacteria called
mycoplasmas; some of these single-celled organisms are spheres as small as 0.2 μm
in diameter (1μm = about 0.000039 inch), with a total mass of 10−14 gram—equal to
that of 8,000,000,000 hydrogen atoms. Cells of humans typically have a mass 400,000
times larger than the mass of a single mycoplasma bacterium, but even human cells
are only about 20 μm across. It would require a sheet of about 10,000 human cells
to cover the head of a pin, and each human organism is composed of more than
30,000,000,000,000 cells.
animal cell
animal cell
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Category: Science & Tech
Key People: Torbjörn Oskar Caspersson Daniel Mazia Fred H. Gage Lynn Margulis Ralph
M. Steinman
Related Topics: stem cell tissue adipose cell DNA repair membrane
How are plant cells different from animal cells?
How are plant cells different from animal cells?
All living things are composed of cells.See all videos for this article
similarities and differences between cells
similarities and differences between cells
Basic similarities between cells and ways cells may vary depending on their
function.See all videos for this article
This article discusses the cell both as an individual unit and as a contributing
part of a larger organism. As an individual unit, the cell is capable of
metabolizing its own nutrients, synthesizing many types of molecules, providing its
own energy, and replicating itself in order to produce succeeding generations. It
can be viewed as an enclosed vessel, within which innumerable chemical reactions
take place simultaneously. These reactions are under very precise control so that
they contribute to the life and procreation of the cell. In a multicellular
organism, cells become specialized to perform different functions through the
process of differentiation. In order to do this, each cell keeps in constant
communication with its neighbours. As it receives nutrients from and expels wastes
into its surroundings, it adheres to and cooperates with other cells. Cooperative
assemblies of similar cells form tissues, and a cooperation between tissues in turn
forms organs, which carry out the functions necessary to sustain the life of an
organism.
Consider how a single-celled organism contains the necessary structures to eat,

grow, and reproduce
Consider how a single-celled organism contains the necessary structures to eat,
grow, and reproduce
Cells are the basic units of life.See all videos for this article
Special emphasis is given in this article to animal cells, with some discussion of
the energy-synthesizing processes and extracellular components peculiar to plants.
(For detailed discussion of the biochemistry of plant cells, see photosynthesis.
For a full treatment of the genetic events in the cell nucleus, see heredity.)
Bruce M. Alberts
The nature and function of cells
cells
cells
Animal cells and plant cells contain membrane-bound organelles, including a
distinct nucleus. In contrast, bacterial cells do not contain organelles.
A cell is enclosed by a plasma membrane, which forms a selective barrier that
allows nutrients to enter and waste products to leave. The interior of the cell is
organized into many specialized compartments, or organelles, each surrounded by a
separate membrane. One major organelle, the nucleus, contains the genetic
information necessary for cell growth and reproduction. Each cell contains only one
nucleus, whereas other types of organelles are present in multiple copies in the
cellular contents, or cytoplasm. Organelles include mitochondria, which are
responsible for the energy transactions necessary for cell survival; lysosomes,
which digest unwanted materials within the cell; and the endoplasmic reticulum and
the Golgi apparatus, which play important roles in the internal organization of the
cell by synthesizing selected molecules and then processing, sorting, and directing
them to their proper locations. In addition, plant cells contain chloroplasts,
which are responsible for photosynthesis, whereby the energy of sunlight is used to
convert molecules of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) into carbohydrates.
Between all these organelles is the space in the cytoplasm called the cytosol. The
cytosol contains an organized framework of fibrous molecules that constitute the
cytoskeleton, which gives a cell its shape, enables organelles to move within the
cell, and provides a mechanism by which the cell itself can move. The cytosol also
contains more than 10,000 different kinds of molecules that are involved in
cellular biosynthesis, the process of making large biological molecules from small
ones.
Mechanism of cellular autophagy, illustration for Nobel Prize Award in Medicine

2016. 3D illustration showing fusion of lysosome with autophagosome containing
microbes and molecules.
Britannica Quiz
Parts of a Cell Quiz
eukaryotic cell
eukaryotic cell
Cutaway drawing of a eukaryotic cell.
Specialized organelles are a characteristic of cells of organisms known as
eukaryotes. In contrast, cells of organisms known as prokaryotes do not contain
organelles and are generally smaller than eukaryotic cells. However, all cells
share strong similarities in biochemical function.
The molecules of cells

Understand how cell membranes regulate food consumption and waste and how cell
walls provide protection
Understand how cell membranes regulate food consumption and waste and how cell
walls provide protection
Cells ingest molecules through their plasma membranes.See all videos for this
article
Cells contain a special collection of molecules that are enclosed by a membrane.
These molecules give cells the ability to grow and reproduce. The overall process
of cellular reproduction occurs in two steps: cell growth and cell division. During
cell growth, the cell ingests certain molecules from its surroundings by
selectively carrying them through its cell membrane. Once inside the cell, these
molecules are subjected to the action of highly specialized, large, elaborately
folded molecules called enzymes. Enzymes act as catalysts by binding to ingested
molecules and regulating the rate at which they are chemically altered. These
chemical alterations make the molecules more useful to the cell. Unlike the
ingested molecules, catalysts are not chemically altered themselves during the
reaction, allowing one catalyst to regulate a specific chemical reaction in many
molecules.
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Biological catalysts create chains of reactions. In other words, a molecule
chemically transformed by one catalyst serves as the starting material, or
substrate, of a second catalyst and so on. In this way, catalysts use the small
molecules brought into the cell from the outside environment to create increasingly
complex reaction products. These products are used for cell growth and the
replication of genetic material. Once the genetic material has been copied and
there are sufficient molecules to support cell division, the cell divides to create
two daughter cells. Through many such cycles of cell growth and division, each
parent cell can give rise to millions of daughter cells, in the process converting
large amounts of inanimate matter into biologically active molecules.
The structure of biological molecules

Cells are largely composed of compounds that contain carbon. The study of how
carbon atoms interact with other atoms in molecular compounds forms the basis of
the field of organic chemistry and plays a large role in understanding the basic
functions of cells. Because carbon atoms can form stable bonds with four other
atoms, they are uniquely suited for the construction of complex molecules. These
complex molecules are typically made up of chains and rings that contain hydrogen,
oxygen, and nitrogen atoms, as well as carbon atoms. These molecules may consist of
anywhere from 10 to millions of atoms linked together in specific arrays. Most, but
not all, of the carbon-containing molecules in cells are built up from members of
one of four different families of small organic molecules: sugars, amino acids,
nucleotides, and fatty acids. Each of these families contains a group of molecules
that resemble one another in both structure and function. In addition to other
important functions, these molecules are used to build large macromolecules. For
example, the sugars can be linked to form polysaccharides such as starch and
glycogen, the amino acids can be linked to form proteins, the nucleotides can be
linked to form the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and RNA (ribonucleic acid) of
chromosomes, and the fatty acids can be linked to form the lipids of all cell
membranes.
Approximate chemical composition of a typical mammalian cell

component percent of total cell weight
water 70
inorganic ions (sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, chloride, etc.) 1
miscellaneous small metabolites 3
proteins 18
RNA 1.1
DNA 0.25
phospholipids and other lipids 5
polysaccharides 2
Aside from water, which forms 70 percent of a cell’s mass, a cell is composed
mostly of macromolecules. By far the largest portion of macromolecules are the
proteins. An average-sized protein macromolecule contains a string of about 400
amino acid molecules. Each amino acid has a different side chain of atoms that
interact with the atoms of side chains of other amino acids. These interactions are
very specific and cause the entire protein molecule to fold into a compact globular
form. In theory, nearly an infinite variety of proteins can be formed, each with a
different sequence of amino acids. However, nearly all these proteins would fail to
fold in the unique ways required to form efficient functional surfaces and would
therefore be useless to the cell. The proteins present in cells of modern animals
and humans are products of a long evolutionary history, during which the ancestor
proteins were naturally selected for their ability to fold into specific three-
dimensional forms with unique functional surfaces useful for cell survival.
Most of the catalytic macromolecules in cells are enzymes. The majority of enzymes
are proteins. Key to the catalytic property of an enzyme is its tendency to undergo
a change in its shape when it binds to its substrate, thus bringing together
reactive groups on substrate molecules. Some enzymes are macromolecules of RNA,
called ribozymes. Ribozymes consist of linear chains of nucleotides that fold in
specific ways to form unique surfaces, similar to the ways in which proteins fold.
As with proteins, the specific sequence of nucleotide subunits in an RNA chain
gives each macromolecule a unique character. RNA molecules are much less frequently
used as catalysts in cells than are protein molecules, presumably because proteins,
with the greater variety of amino acid side chains, are more diverse and capable of
complex shape changes. However, RNA molecules are thought to have preceded protein
molecules during evolution and to have catalyzed most of the chemical reactions
required before cells could evolve (see below The evolution of cells).

Cell

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Cell, in biology, the basic membrane-bound unit that contains the fundamental

Consider how a single-celled organism contains the necessary structures to eat,

Mechanism of cellular autophagy, illustration for Nobel Prize Award in Medicine

The molecules of cells

Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content.

The structure of biological molecules

Approximate chemical composition of a typical mammalian cell

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