Cellular component

Cellular component refers to the unique, highly organized substances of which cells, and thus living organisms, are composed. Examples include membranes, organelles, proteins, and nucleic acids. Whilst the majority of cellular components are located within the cell itself, some may exist in extracellular areas of an organism.

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 alternative biochemistry.

See also