Organism

An organism (from Ancient Greek ὄργανον (órganon) 'instrument, implement, tool', and -ισμός (-ismós)) is any biological living system that functions as an individual life form. All organisms are composed of cells. The idea of organism is based on the concept of minimal functional unit of life. Three traits have been proposed to play the main role in qualification as an organism:

  • noncompartmentability – structure that cannot be divided without its functionality loss,
  • individuality – the entity has simultaneous holding of genetic uniqueness, genetic homogeneity and autonomy,
  • distinctness – genetic information has to maintain open-system (a cell).
"Biological form" redirects here. For the informal taxonomic term in botany, see Race (biology) § Physiological race.
"Form of life" redirects here. For the philosophical concept, see Form of life (philosophy).

Bacteria are single-celled prokaryotes.
An amoeba is a single-celled eukaryote.
Cyanobacteria are multicellular prokaryotes.
Fungi are multicellular eukaryotes.

Organisms include multicellular animals, plants, and fungi; or unicellular microorganisms such as protists, bacteria, and archaea. All types of organisms are capable of reproduction, growth and development, maintenance, and some degree of response to stimuli. Most multicellular organisms differentiate into specialized tissues and organs during their development.

In 2016, a set of 355 genes from the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) of all organisms from Earth was identified.

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