The body of all organisms is made up of very small units called cell. A cell is capable of independent existence and can carry out all the functions which are necessary for a living being. Due to this, a cell is called the fundamental, structural and functional unit of living organisms and basic unit of life. The cell is a structural and functional unit of a living entity. This chapter provides details about cells, the composition of cells etc. Some organisms possess a single cell known as unicellular organisms while some others are composed of multiple cells, referred to as multicellular organisms.
The chapter also takes students through two broad groups of classification – eukaryotes and prokaryotes. The cell consists of different constituents some of which are absent in plant cell, while some are absent in an animal cell.