A hypothetical living unit smaller than a cell, proposed in older biological theories as a fundamental building block of life.
From bio- (life) + -blast (from Greek blastos 'germ, bud, sprout'). An outdated term from late 19th-century vitalist biology theories that were eventually superseded by cellular and molecular biology.
Bioblasts are essentially scientific fossils—19th-century biologists imagined invisible living particles more basic than cells because they didn't yet understand molecules and DNA.
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