If a cell lacked ribosomes, it would not be able to produce proteins. Ribosomes are the structures in the cell that are responsible for protein synthesis. They are made up of two subunits, the large subunit and the small subunit. The large subunit is responsible for catalyzing the formation of peptide bonds between amino acids, while the small subunit is responsible for decoding the genetic code in messenger RNA. Without ribosomes, the cell would not be able to produce the proteins that it needs to function, and would eventually die.