Cells and life vocabulary: 16 terms with definitions

The smallest unit of life; every living thing is made of one or more cells.

The part of a plant or animal cell that holds its DNA and controls what the cell does.

The thin layer around a cell that controls what goes in and out.

The jelly-like fluid that fills a cell, in which the other parts float.

The parts of a cell that release energy from food, often called the cell's powerhouses.

The part of a plant cell where photosynthesis happens; its green chlorophyll captures sunlight.

A tiny structure in a cell that builds proteins.

A sac in a cell that stores water, food or waste; a plant cell has one large vacuole.

Any living thing, from a single bacterium to a whale.

A group of similar cells working together, such as muscle tissue.

A section of DNA that carries the instructions for a trait, passed from parents to their young.

A thread of tightly coiled DNA in the nucleus; most human cells have 46.

Cell division that makes two new cells with the same chromosomes as the first.

How plants make their food, a sugar, from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide, giving off oxygen.

Living things made of a single cell with no nucleus; some cause disease, and many are helpful.

A protein that speeds up a chemical reaction in a living thing, such as breaking down food.