November 10, 2020

Quiz: How Does Your Knowledge of Life’s Building Blocks Stack Up?

Cells are the smallest units of life, providing structure and function for all living things, from microorganisms—like bacteria, algae, and yeast—to humans. They come in a wide range of sizes and shapes, and they’re complex machines with many smaller components that work together.

Some NIGMS-funded researchers use imaging techniques to peer inside cells, examine their structures, and study how they divide, grow, communicate, and carry out basic functions. Others use biochemical and genetic tests to study how cells interact with their environments, including those that may be toxic. Understanding cells’ biological processes helps to keep us healthy and identify new methods for treating disease.

Take our quiz to test how well you know cells. Afterward, check out our other blog posts on cell biology.

A cell moving in time, seen as a large red circle with spiked edges and a blue-and-green-flecked center.

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#1. Which of these is NOT a way that cells move?
A group of fat cells (red spheres) with blood vessels (green strands) between them.

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#2. About how many different TYPES of cells do humans have?
Two fruit fly ovaries that look like strings of red-and-purple beads.

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#3. Which one of these types of proteins acts as a chemical messenger?
A round, blue cell structure surrounded by smaller yellow circles.

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#4. What are proteins that speed up chemical reactions called?
Two cells—each with blue, purple, and green structures—connected to each other.
#5. Which of these cell structures build proteins?
Chromosomes (short purple strands) being pulled apart by microtubules (long green fibers).

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#6. Before a protein is complete and ready to do its job, what process must its string of amino acids go through?

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