If a cell is the basic unit of life?
What about organelles? If they are the "tiny organs" that basically do everything in a cell and they carry out life functions(digest food, generate energy, produce protein, fat, transport nutrients etc) then why aren't organelles considered the basic units of life? And if the cell is considered the basic unit of life then what are organelles composed of?
Biology - 4 Answers - 2010-10-09 20:01:19

Best Answer
The cell is called the basic unit of life because all life forms on the planet are made up of cells - from one-celled animals like bacteria, to people. Organelles are just parts of cells: each of them has a different function within the cell such as protein synthesis for mitochondria< "packing" products the cell makes for export outside the cell for the endoplasmic reticulum etc> Cells and not organelles are the "basic units of life" because cells can exist by themselves for a while, even when separated from the rest of the body: you can make cell "cultures" of many different kinds of cells, which can be grown in the appropriate solution of nutrients.... but you can't make cultures or colonies of organelles because they cannot exist by themselves: If you take a Golgi body or a nucleolus out of the cell it is in, it could not live by itself because it is incomplete: cells contain all they need to take in nutrients from the blood stream, excrete waste, and reproduce: in other words each cell is almost like a living creature - but organelles are not complete in this way: they are just parts of the cell which cannot survive by themselves no matter what you do to help them.

All Answers
Answer 1
Because it is the cells that make up tissues and other organic materials. Sure, organelles are the basic unit of life, for cells, and cells are the basic unit of life for more complex life.
2010-10-09 20:08:49

Answer 2
But you need all the organelles, together, for life. Each organelle on its own is not living, but if you put them all together it is a cell, which is alive.
2010-10-09 20:13:26

Answer 3
The cell is called the basic unit of life because all life forms on the planet are made up of cells - from one-celled animals like bacteria, to people. Organelles are just parts of cells: each of them has a different function within the cell such as protein synthesis for mitochondria< "packing" products the cell makes for export outside the cell for the endoplasmic reticulum etc> Cells and not organelles are the "basic units of life" because cells can exist by themselves for a while, even when separated from the rest of the body: you can make cell "cultures" of many different kinds of cells, which can be grown in the appropriate solution of nutrients.... but you can't make cultures or colonies of organelles because they cannot exist by themselves: If you take a Golgi body or a nucleolus out of the cell it is in, it could not live by itself because it is incomplete: cells contain all they need to take in nutrients from the blood stream, excrete waste, and reproduce: in other words each cell is almost like a living creature - but organelles are not complete in this way: they are just parts of the cell which cannot survive by themselves no matter what you do to help them.
2010-10-09 20:14:29

Answer 4
because there are such things as unicellular organisms, but organelles do not survive on their own. aside from the mitochondria which has its own DNA (and was likely its own entity at one point in time) you need at least one cell to have an organism.
2010-10-10 01:19:09