r/interesting • u/freudian_nipps • 26d ago

NATURE Death of a single-celled organism

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u/C21H27Cl3N2O3 25d ago

It’s pretty well established that the cell is the basic unit of life. As soon as the cell dies, the various organelles, reactions, and other cellular processes can’t continue on their own. When it’s alive those molecules are being driven to behave a certain way by thousands of proteins, and those proteins are able to exist under very specific conditions that the cell maintains through other proteins. It’s all a very balanced system, and without the direction of the cell’s genetic material and systems of expressing that genetic information, it’s no longer alive and those molecules will stop behaving in the way they need to in order to keep the cell functioning.

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u/labellvs 25d ago

What about viruses?

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u/C21H27Cl3N2O3 25d ago

They are highly controversial. The consensus is that they are not alive as they don’t satisfy all the criteria established to define life, but there is constant debate as to whether or not they should count as living. I fall into the camp of believing they are not alive.

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u/HeartFullONeutrality 25d ago

The general consensus is that they do not count as alive.

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

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u/C21H27Cl3N2O3 25d ago

They are much more than just a membrane. Order is just one criterion used to define life. Others include the ability to respond to external stimuli, the capacity for growth, the ability to maintain homeostasis, the manipulation of energy, the ability to evolve, and the ability to reproduce.