Eukaryotes And Prokaryotic Cells: The Basic Properties Of Life

Properties of Life There are basic properties of life including, cellular organization, homeostasis, metabolism, responsiveness, reproduction, and growth and development. All these properties compound the proof needed to claim that an organism is alive. Cellular organization denotes the cellular nature of life where the cell is the basic unit of life. Organisms are either unicellular (made up of only one cell) or multicellular (made up of several cell) (Simpson and Beck, 1965). In terms of cells, eukaryotes and prokaryotes are basic terms. A eukaryotic cell can be distinguished further into an animal or a plant cell. The main difference between the eukaryotic and the prokaryotic cell is the primitive nature of the prokaryotic cell (Simpson and Beck, 1965). In contrast to the prokaryotic cell, the eukaryotic cell has a nuclear membrane, membranous organelles, including chromosomal proteins (Simpson and Beck, 1965).

Homeostasis is the other property of life, which describes the maintenance of a constant and stable internal environment despite fluctuations in the external environment (Simpson and Beck, 1965). An example of a homeostasis is the vasoconstriction or vasodilation of the veins in response to an

In the process of metabolizing the food and oxygen, carbon dioxide and other wastes are given off as byproducts (Saladin and Miller, 1998). In terms of anatomy, an outer covering called the cell membrane that encloses the cell and all its contents, contributing to its shape. The cell’s control center (the nucleus) serves to direct all the activities of the cell (Saladin and Miller, 1998). Surrounding the control center is the cytoplasm, which is a medium in which cellular organelles are suspended (Saladin and Miller, 1998). Protoplasm is a terms used to describe the water, structures, including all the substances that are in the cell (Saladin and Miller,