cellular component

{{Other uses|Biological material (disambiguation)}}

{{Refimprove|date=June 2018}}

Image:Protein translation.gif is a biological machine that utilizes protein dynamics on nanoscales to translate RNA into proteins]]

Cellular components are the complex biomolecules and structures of which cells, and thus living organisms, are composed. Cells are the structural and functional units of life.{{Cite web |last=Zedalis |first=Julianne |last2=Eggebrecht |first2=John |date=2018-03-08 |title=Ch. 4 Chapter Summary - Biology for AP® Courses {{!}} OpenStax |url=https://openstax.org/books/biology-ap-courses/pages/4-chapter-summary |access-date=2024-02-14 |website=openstax.org |language=English}} The smallest organisms are single cells, while the largest organisms are assemblages of trillions of cells. DNA, double stranded macromolecule that carries the hereditary information of the cell{{Cite web |last=Zedalis |first=Julianne |last2=Eggebrecht |first2=John |date=2018-03-08 |title=Ch. 3 Key Terms - Biology for AP® Courses {{!}} OpenStax |url=https://openstax.org/books/biology-ap-courses/pages/3-key-terms |access-date=2024-02-14 |website=openstax.org |language=English}} and found in all living cells;{{Cite web |title=Contents of Essentials of Cell Biology {{!}} Learn Science at Scitable |url=https://www.nature.com/scitable/ebooks/essentials-of-cell-biology-14749010/118237871/ |access-date=2024-02-14 |website=www.nature.com |language=en}} each cell carries chromosome(s) having a distinctive DNA sequence.yourgenome, (2014). In: GLOSSARY Chromosome. [online] Available at: https://www.yourgenome.org/glossary/chromosome/ [Accessed 15 Aug. 2023].

Examples include macromolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids, biomolecular complexes such as a ribosome, and structures such as membranes, and organelles. While the majority of cellular components are located within the cell itself, some may exist in extracellular areas of an organism.{{Cite journal|last=Vasyutin|first=I. A.|last2=Lyundup|first2=A. V.|last3=Viranov|first3=A. Z.|last4=Butnaru|first4=D. V.|last5=Kuznetsov|first5=S. L.|date=2017|title=Urethra Reconstruction with Tissue-Engineering Technology|journal=Vestnik Rossiiskoi Akademii Meditsinskikh Nauk|volume=72|issue=1|pages=17–25|issn=0869-6047|pmid=29308838|doi=10.15690/vramn771|doi-access=free}}

Cellular components may also be called biological matter or biological material. Most biological matter has the characteristics of soft matter, being governed by relatively small energies. All known life is made of biological matter. To be differentiated from other theoretical or fictional life forms, such life may be called carbon-based, cellular, organic, biological, or even simply living – as some definitions of life exclude hypothetical types of biochemistry.