Biology - Cells and Microorganisms - VOCAB

• Cell


  The basic unit of structure and function in living things
• Cell Membrane


  Structure surrounding and protecting the cell. It determines what enters and leaves the cell.
• Fluid Mosaic Model


  model that describes the arrangement and movement of the molecules that make up a cell membrane
• Organism


  A living thing
• Heredity


  the transmission of traits from one generation to the next
• DNA


  A complex molecule containing the genetic information that makes up the chromosomes.
• protein molecules


  the building blocks of physical development
• genetic material


  the set of instructions within a cell that controls an organism's characteristics and life processes
• chromosome


  A threadlike, gene-carrying structure found in the nucleus. Each one consists of one very long DNA molecule and associated proteins.
• stimuli


  Changes in the environment
• cell division


  Process by which a cell divides into two new daughter cells
• Cytoplasm


  A jellylike fluid inside the cell in which the organelles are suspended
• nucleus


  Control center of the cell
• Unicellular


  Made of a single cell
• Multicellular


  Made up of more than one cell.
• organelle


  A tiny cell structure that carries out a specific function within the cell
• micrometre


  one-thousandth of a millimetre, or one-millionth of a metre
• Phospholipid


  a lipid that contains phosphorus and that is a structural component in cell membranes