Cells: a brief review of the diversity, characteristics, organization, structures and cellular functions. Andreia Leme Ganeo, Letícia Cândido, Janaína Aires dos Santos, Laiza Aparecida de Fátima Reis dos Santos, Letícia Morais Schimit, Michele Caterine Pereira Carrenho, Vanessa Lopes de Oliveira, Ana Beatriz Carollo Rocha-Lima

Abstract

The cell is the smallest part of living matter capable of independent self-replicating. Cells are functional and structural units of living things and despite the wide variety of animals, plants, fungi, protists and bacteria, there are only two basic types of cells: prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Therefore, to differentiate them, recognize their structures, know how to represent and identify them as the fundamental structure of all living forms is essential to understand the whole. Therefore, the present review addresses how cells were discovered, what existing cell types (prokaryotes and eukaryotes, animals and plants) and the structures and organelles that compose them. The main objective of this review is to offer a bibliographic survey about different cells and its main structures: nucleus, plasma membrane and cytoplasmic organelles.