Which of these is NOT a principle of the cell theory as it is currently understood? A) Cells are the basic units of life B) All living things are made of cells. C) All cells are produced from existing cells. D) Only cells containing mitochondria can reproduce.

Cell theory mainly states that every organism present on this earth are made up of cell and the cell is the basic and smallest unit from which life is made up of. It also states that all the new cell that comes into existence are evolved from the old(pre-existing) cells.

Therefore any cell that contain or do not contain mitochondria can reproduce because new cells come from an old cell not from mitochondria, for example, a bacterial cell does not have mitochondria but they reproduce by binary fission.

Therefore any cell which is living can reproduce so the principle which is not currently understood is D) Only cells containing mitochondria can reproduce.

Oseni Oseni · Answer 2 · 2021-10-01T21:24:30+02:00

The statement that is not a principle of the cell theory from the available options would one that says that only cells containing mitochondria can reproduce. D would be the correct option.

Basically, there are 3 components to the cell theory:

Cells represents the basic units of life
All living organisms are made of cells
Cells can only arise from existing cells

Going by the 3 components, one can see that the odd one out among the options is the claim that only cells containing mitochondria can reproduce. In reality, even cells that have no mitochondrion (the prokaryotic cells) also reproduce.

More on the cell theory can be found here: https://brainly.com/question/1468725