Unit 1 Lesson 1 The Characteristics of Cells

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Unit 1 Lesson 1 The Characteristics of Cells

Cell-ebrate!
What is a cell?
• A cell is the smallest functional and structural unit
of all living organisms.

• An organism is any living thing that carries out

its own life processes.

• Robert Hooke was the first to describe cells. He

looked at the bark of a cork tree under a
microscope.

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Unit 1 Lesson 1 The Characteristics of Cells

Why are most cells small?

• Cells are small because their size is limited by
their outer surface area.

• If cells get too large, they cannot take in enough

nutrients or get rid of enough wastes.

• The surface area-to-volume ratio of a cell is the

ratio of the outer surface to the cell’s volume. The
smaller the cell, the greater this ratio.

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Unit 1 Lesson 1 The Characteristics of Cells

Cell Hall of Fame

What is the cell theory?
• The cell theory lists three basic characteristics of
all cells and organisms.

• All organisms are made up of one or more cells.

• The cell is the basic unit of all organisms.

• All cells come from existing cells.

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Unit 1 Lesson 1 The Characteristics of Cells

What is the cell theory?

• Anton van Leeuwenhoek was the first to describe
living cells.

• Matthias Schleiden concluded that all plants are

made of cells.

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Unit 1 Lesson 1 The Characteristics of Cells

What is the cell theory?

• Theodor Schwann determined that all animal
tissues are made of cells.

• Rudolf Virchow proposed that cells could form only

from the division of other cells.

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Unit 1 Lesson 1 The Characteristics of Cells

What is the cell theory?

• Organisms made up of just one cell are called
unicellular organisms.

• The single cell must carry out all of the organism’s

life functions.

• Organisms made up of more than one cell are

called multicellular organisms.

• The cells of multicellular organisms have

specialized functions.

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Unit 1 Lesson 1 The Characteristics of Cells

On the Cellular
What parts do all cells have in
common?
• All cells have some structures in common.

• A cell membrane is a protective layer that covers

a cell’s surface and controls materials moving into
and out of the cell.

• The cytoplasm is the region inside the cell that

includes the fluid and all the organelles except for
the nucleus.

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Unit 1 Lesson 1 The Characteristics of Cells

What parts do all cells have in

common?
• An organelle is a small body in the cytoplasm
that is specialized to perform a specific function.

• The nucleus is a membrane-bound organelle that

contains DNA.

• DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is genetic material

that provides instructions for all cell processes.

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Unit 1 Lesson 1 The Characteristics of Cells

What parts do all cells have in

common?
• How many parts of a cell can you name?

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Unit 1 Lesson 1 The Characteristics of Cells

What are the two types of cells?

• Prokaryotes are single-celled organisms that do
not have a nucleus or membrane-bound
organelles.

• Prokaryotes’ DNA is in the cytoplasm. They have

organelles without cell membranes called
ribosomes.

• Some have hairlike structures called flagella that

help them move.

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Unit 1 Lesson 1 The Characteristics of Cells

What are the two types of cells?

• Eukaryotes are organisms made up of cells that
contain DNA in a nucleus, membrane-bound
organelles, and ribosomes.

• Animals, plants, protists, and fungi are

eukaryotes.

• Most eukaryotes are multicellular but some are

unicellular.

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