Which Property is Shared by the Cells of all Living Things?

A. The cells contain DNA composed of adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine.

B. The cells have chromosomes that are located inside a membrane-bound- nucleus.

C. The cells are surrounded by a phospholipid bilayer and a cell wall made of cellulose.

D. The cells rely on mitochondria to carry out aerobic cellular respiration.

Living things are those organisms that have life and they possess the basic characteristics that enable them to be termed as living. This include growth, reproduction, irritability etc

Answer A.

The property listed in the options shared by cells of all living things is the cell contain DNA composed of adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine.

• All living things contain the genetic material (DNA) that carry the needed information essential for their cells to function.
• Although some living things do not have a membrane bound nucleus eg prokaryotic cells.
• Many differences therefore exists that differentiates the living things from one another bringing them into groups.

Basic Properties of Cells

Just as plants and animals are alive, so too are cells. Life, in fact, is the most basic property of cells, and cells are the smallest units to exhibit this property. Unlike the parts of a cell, which simply deteriorate if isolated, whole cells can be removed from a plant or animal and cultured in a laboratory where they will grow and reproduce for extended periods of time.

If mistreated, they may die. Death can also be considered one of the most basic properties of life, because only a living entity faces this prospect. Remarkably, cells within the body generally die “by their own hand”—the victims of an internal program that causes cells that are no longer needed or cells that pose a risk of becoming cancerous to eliminate themselves. The first culture of human cells was begun by George and Martha Gey of Johns Hopkins University in 1951.

The cells were obtained from a malignant tumor and named HeLa cells after the donor, Henrietta Lacks. HeLa cells—descended by cell division from this first cell sample—are still being grown in laboratories around the world today (Figure 1.2). Because they are so much simpler to study than cells situated within the body, cells grown in vitro (i.e., in culture, outside the body) have become an essential tool of cell and molecular biologists. In fact, much of the information that will be discussed in this book has been obtained using cells grown in laboratory cultures.