What Does the Cell Do in the Body

Cell is important because it is the building block of the body. It is a replicating organism that has proteins and cytoplasm and nucleic acids inside a membrane Alberts (2002). Cells are in everything from humans to plants, though each representation of life has its own particular cells. Cells are very small and impossible to see with a microscopic lens. That is why the cell was not actually noticed until such technology came along in the 17th century.

Indeed, the name cell, which means small room in Latin, comes from the discoverer of the cell, who thought they looked like the small rooms that monks in the medieval era used to live in, which were called cells (Karp, 2009). Essentially, all living organisms are made up of cells and if there were no cells there would be no life. So the cell is very important. What do cells do? That depends on its cell type. There is more than one kind of cell.

First of all, there are organisms that consist of a single cell, and then there are organisms that are multicellular. These latter are complex organisms, like humans. The different cell types in a person, for example, are stem cells, blood cells, muscle cells, skin cells, neurons and fibroblasts. Each of these not only looks different from the other but also has its own function. At the same time, they all have the same genetic type within the one organism.

So in me, for example, every cell has my genetic type sequence and carries my gene identity card, so to speak -- they just express themselves differently in terms of what they do. It is difficult to talk about the origins of the cell without discussing the origins of life. Some take an evolutionary view of this matter and others take a creationist view of this.

How cells came into being is something that can be theorized about or conjectured about and some feel very strongly about it because what we believe about the origins of life often holds some significance for us and acts as a framework for how we look at ourselves and life. Regardless, we can study what cells do and the different types of cells and make theories about what early cells looked like on the planet many years ago.

This can be helpful to some in understanding what the first building blocks of life were like. But for others, it is less important, especially for those who have a conviction that life was created. Nonetheless, the cell is important because it plays a very important role in the organism. What does it do? First, it is able to divide and self-replicate. This is an astonishing activity.

From one cell, suddenly there are two, and from two, suddenly there are four -- then eight, then sixteen, then thirty-two, and so on. This is called cell growth and what is called metabolism. By absorbing or processing nutrients, the cell breaks down molecules (the way a person breaks down food) and uses them for energy (just as a human uses food). By synthesizing proteins, cells can acts as a kind.