Why We Study the Cell and Its Components

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Why We Study the Cell and Its Components Tim DeLorme BIO1020 Professor Robert Frye August 1, 2012 Biology studies the basics of life in which we examine living organisms to help us understand how everything works. In order to understand life we have to first look at its components. The basic of the living unit is the cell. All living things or organisms are composed of these cells. We cannot forget about the invisible world of bacteria. We would not be able to live without bacteria. A bacteria is more helpful than harmful. Bacteria are unicellular which means it consists of a single cell. Other organisms such as humans are multicellular which means they have many cells- An estimated 100,000,000,000,000 cells! Each cell is its own world unto itself. Which means it can take nutrients, convert these nutrients into energy, carry out special functions, and reproduce as necessary. What is even more amazing is that cells store its own set of instructions for carrying out each of these activities. Before we can discuss the components of a cell and why we study them. It is important to know what organism the cell comes from. There are two general categories of cells. The two general categories are Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes. Prokaryotic Organisms- Prokaryotic cells are the simplest of cells and the first types of cells to evolve. Prokaryotic cells lack a nuclear membrane, the membrane that surrounds the nucleus of a cell is bacteria. Prokaryotes are unicellular organisms that do not develop or differentiate into multicellular forms. Some of the bacteria grow in filaments, or masses of cells, but each cell in the colony is identical and capable of independent existence. Prokaryotes are capable of inhabiting almost every place on earth all the way from the deep ocean to the edge of hot springs, to just about every surface of our bodies. Prokaryotic have

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