000			01809cam a2200205 4500
001			0199578753
008			150915t2011 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a0199578753
100			_aAllen, Terence
245		4	_aThe cell : a very short introduction
260			_aOxford _bOxford University Press _c2011
300			_a145 p. : ill. ; 18 cm.
490			_aVery short introductions _n285
505			_aThe nature of cells -- The structure of cells -- The nucleus -- The life of cells -- What cells can do -- Stem cells -- Cellular therapy -- The future of cell research.
520			_aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 129-130) and index.
520			_aAll living things on Earth are composed of cells. A cell is the simplest unit of a self-contained living organism, and the vast majority of life on Earth consists of single-celled microbes, mostly bacteria. These consist of a simple 'prokaryotic' cell, with no nucleus. The bodies of more complex plants and animals consist of billions of 'eukaryotic' cells, of varying kinds, adapted to fill different roles - red blood cells, muscle cells, branched neurons. Each cell is an astonishingly complex chemical factory, the activities of which we have only begun to unravel in the past fifty years or so through modern techniques of microscopy, biochemistry, and molecular biology. In this Very Short Introduction, Terence Allen and Graham Cowling describe the nature of cells - their basic structure, their varying forms, their division, their differentiation from initially highly flexible stem cells, their signalling, and programmed death. Cells are the basic constituent of life, and understanding cells and how they work is central to all biology and medicine.
650			_aCELLS _95545
700			_aCowling, Graham
999			_c81362 _d81362