Why cell organelles are not considered as the fundamental unit of life

Dear Student,

Organelle ('meaning little organs') are not considered fundamental unit of life because they are incapable of living on their own. Organelle are incapable of independent existence. They can not live outside the boundary of cell membrane, without the cooperation of other organelles.
Cell is considered as the basic structural and functional unit of life, as it is capable of sustaining on its own. All the metabolic process that are required to keep an entity alive happens inside this setup. A cell provides optimum conditions for all the organelles to thrive and function properly and in turn they keep the cell alive.

Also, A cell can live even in absence of some organelles (example: endoplasmic reticulum is absent in prokaryotes, Chloroplast is absent in animal cells), but an organelle can not survive in absence of a cell.

Regards,

  • 0
What are you looking for?