Skip to main content
Biology

Return to Question

Added tag.
Link
edit approved Jul 16, 2020 at 19:35
Rodrigo de Azevedo
edit approved Jul 16, 2020 at 19:35
Rodrigo de Azevedo
  • 1
  • 1
  • 12
replaced http://biology.stackexchange.com/ with https://biology.stackexchange.com/
Source Link
Community Bot
Community Bot
  • 1

Wikipedia states that a cell is

the basic structural, functional and biological unit of all known living organisms. Cells are the smallest unit of life that can replicate independently.

It then goes on to state that

All cells (except red blood cells which lack a cell nucleus and most organelles to accommodate maximum space for hemoglobin) possess DNA.

Then why are red blood cells still considered cells, while they can't replicate? Is the definition on Wikipedia just a bad definition? Or are red blood cells wrongly considered cells, but remain so for historical reasons? Or are they considered cells for some other reason, such as this answerthis answer which states that red blood cells do contain a nucleus at some point?

Wikipedia states that a cell is

the basic structural, functional and biological unit of all known living organisms. Cells are the smallest unit of life that can replicate independently.

It then goes on to state that

All cells (except red blood cells which lack a cell nucleus and most organelles to accommodate maximum space for hemoglobin) possess DNA.

Then why are red blood cells still considered cells, while they can't replicate? Is the definition on Wikipedia just a bad definition? Or are red blood cells wrongly considered cells, but remain so for historical reasons? Or are they considered cells for some other reason, such as this answer which states that red blood cells do contain a nucleus at some point?

Wikipedia states that a cell is

the basic structural, functional and biological unit of all known living organisms. Cells are the smallest unit of life that can replicate independently.

It then goes on to state that

All cells (except red blood cells which lack a cell nucleus and most organelles to accommodate maximum space for hemoglobin) possess DNA.

Then why are red blood cells still considered cells, while they can't replicate? Is the definition on Wikipedia just a bad definition? Or are red blood cells wrongly considered cells, but remain so for historical reasons? Or are they considered cells for some other reason, such as this answer which states that red blood cells do contain a nucleus at some point?

Question Protected by Chris♦
Tweeted twitter.com/#!/StackBiology/status/464971585145675776
Source Link
Simon Verbeke
Simon Verbeke
  • 789
  • 3
  • 8
  • 15

Why are red blood cells considered to be cells?

Wikipedia states that a cell is

the basic structural, functional and biological unit of all known living organisms. Cells are the smallest unit of life that can replicate independently.

It then goes on to state that

All cells (except red blood cells which lack a cell nucleus and most organelles to accommodate maximum space for hemoglobin) possess DNA.

Then why are red blood cells still considered cells, while they can't replicate? Is the definition on Wikipedia just a bad definition? Or are red blood cells wrongly considered cells, but remain so for historical reasons? Or are they considered cells for some other reason, such as this answer which states that red blood cells do contain a nucleus at some point?