BIOFS 01

BIOLOGY

CELL THEORY
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 What Is Life?

Movement- movement from one place to another in

itself is not diagnostic of life. Most plants and even some
animals do not move about, while numerous non living
objects, such as clouds, do move.

Sensitivity. Not all stimuli produce responses,

however. Imagine kicking a redwood tree or singing to a
hibernating bear. This criterion, although superior to the
first, is still inadequate to define life

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Death-a car that breaks down has not died because it was
never alive. Death is simply the loss of life, so this is a
circular definition at best. Unless one can detect life,
death is a meaningless concept, and hence a very inadequate
criterion for defining life.

Complexity- Even the simplest bacteria organized

into many complex structures. A computer is
also complex, but not alive. Complexity is a necessary
criterion of life, but it is not sufficient in itself to identify
living things because many complex things are not
alive.
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 Fundamental Properties of Life

Cellular organization. All organisms consist of

one or more cells—complex, organized assemblages of
molecules enclosed within membranes
Sensitivity. All organisms respond to stimuli—though
not always to the same stimuli in the same ways.

Cellular organization (150). These Paramecia, which are

This father lion is responding to a stimulus: he has just complex, single-celled organisms called protists, have just
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been bitten on the rump by his cub. ingested several yeast cells.
Growth. All living things assimilate energy and use it to
grow, a process called metabolism.
Development. Multicellular organisms undergo
systematic gene-directed changes as they grow and
mature.
Reproduction. All living things reproduce, passing
on traits from one generation to the next
Regulation. All organisms have regulatory mechanisms
that coordinate internal processes.
Homeostasis. All living things maintain relatively
constant internal conditions, different from their environment
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 4 theories:
1. Spontaneous generation – life can come
from nonliving things.
2. Biogenesis – life only comes from other
living things
3. Cosmogenesis – life on Earth came from
another part of our solar system or galaxy
Meteorites contain organic compounds
Conditions necessary for life may have
existed on other planets or moons
4. Special creation – all religious beliefs
 Primordial soup

The Primordial Soup Theory suggest that life

began in a pond or ocean as a result of the
combination of chemicals from the atmosphere and
some form of energy to make amino acids, the
building blocks of proteins, which would then evolve
into all the species.
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 Panspermia

Perhaps life did not begin on Earth at all, but was brought
here from elsewhere in space, a notion known as
panspermia. For instance, rocks regularly get blasted off
Mars by cosmic impacts, and a number of Martian
meteorites have been found on Earth that some
researchers have controversially suggested brought
microbes over here, potentially making us all Martians
originally. 8
 Simple Beginnings

Instead of developing from complex molecules such as

RNA, life might have begun with smaller molecules
interacting with each other in cycles of reactions.
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 RNA World

Nowadays DNA needs proteins in order to form, and proteins

require DNA to form, so how could these have formed without
each other? The answer may be RNA, which can store
information like DNA, serve as an enzyme like proteins, and
help create both DNA and proteins. Later DNA and proteins
succeeded this "RNA world," because they are more efficient
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 Community Clay

The surface of clays have positive charges to

attract organic molecules, and exclude water, providing a
potential catalytic surface on which life’s early chemistry
might have occurred. While interesting conceptually,
there is little evidence that this sort of process could
actually occur.
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Electric Spark and bubble hypothesis

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 The fundamental Unit of life

• All organisms are made of cells

• The cell is the simplest collection of
matter
that can be alive.
The average human being is composed
of around 100 Trillion individual cells!!!
It would take as many as 50 cells to
cover the area of a dot on the letter “i”

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 Robert Hooke

Born: July 18, 1635

Died: March 3, 1703

Wrote and published

“Micrographia”

Known as the “English

Father of Microscopy”
http://www-groups.dcs.st-

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and.ac.uk/~history/PictDisplay/Hooke.html
 Discovery of Cells

1665- English Scientist,

Robert Hooke,
discovered cells while
looking at a thin slice of
cork.
He described the cells
as tiny boxes or a
honeycomb
He thought that cells
only existed in plants
and fungi
 Robert Hooke

- His observations led

him to coin the word
“cell.”
- “Cell”- means little
rooms in Latin
- He compared the small
boxes to the small rooms
that monks lived in.

http://www.learner.org/channel/courses/essential/li
fe/session1/closer1.html

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 Anton van Leuwenhoek
1673- Used a handmade
microscope to observe pond
scum & discovered single-celled
organisms
He called them “animalcules”
He also observed blood cells
from fish, birds, frogs,
dogs, and humans
Therefore, it was known that
cells are found in animals as
well as plants
 Anton van Leeuwenhoek
Discoveries:

- 1673: He looked
at pond scum
under the
microscope and
discovered small
organisms he
called animalcules
or little animals
(Protists)
- 1676: discovered http://www.kent.k12.wa.us/staff/TimLynch/sci_cla
ss/chap09/lesson_protista/Protista_Lesson.html#
Algae

bacteria 18
 Development of Cell Theory

1838- German Botanist,

Matthias Schleiden,
concluded that all plant
parts are made of cells
1839- German
physiologist, Theodor
Schwann, who was a
close friend of
Schleiden, stated that all
animal tissues are
composed of cells.
 Development of Cell Theory

1858- Rudolf
Virchow, German
physician, after
extensive study of
cellular pathology,
concluded that cells
must arise from
preexisting cells.
 « Omnis cellula e cellula »

Remak & Virchow (1858)

noted that:
“all cells come from
pre-existing cells”

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Cell division
 The Cell Theory
Major Contributors:

Matthias Schleiden
Theodor Schwann
Rudolph Virchow

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 The Cell Theory Complete
The 3 Basic Components of the Cell Theory
were now complete:
1. All organisms are composed of one or more
cells. (Schleiden & Schwann)(1838-39)
2. The cell is the basic unit of life in all living things.
(Schleiden & Schwann)(1838-39)
3. All cells are produced by the division of
preexisting cells. (Virchow)(1858)
 Explain: Cell Diversity

Cells within the same organism show

Enormous Diversity in:
Size
Shape
Internal Organization
 1. Cell Size
Female Egg - largest cell in the human body;
seen without the aid of a microscope
Most cells are visible only with a
microscope.
 Cells are small for 2 Reasons
Reason 1:
• Limited in size by the RATIO between their Outer
Surface Area and Their Volume.
A small cell has more SURFACE AREA than a
large cell for a GIVEN VOLUME OF CYTOPLASM.
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 When the size of cell doubles:
 Suraface Area INCREASES
 Volume INCREASES
 SA:V DECREASED by half

 Cells need to be small because they rely on

diffusion for getting substances in and out of
their cells.

 When a cell grows, there is comparatively

less membrane (due to DECREASED SA:V)
 Diffusion is not highly rapid
 Diffusion is not efficient in distributing materials over
long distances
 Cells May Increase SA:V
Ratio By

 divide

 get long and thin rather than round and flat

(Ex: nerve cells)

 folds in cell membrane

(Ex: microvilli of intestinal epithelial cells)
 Cells are Small

Reason 2:
• THE CELL'S NUCLEUS (THE BRAIN)
CAN ONLY CONTROL A CERTAIN
AMOUNT OF LIVING, ACTIVE
CYTOPLASM.
 2. Cell Shape
Diversity of form reflects a diversity of function.
THE SHAPE OF A CELL DEPENDS ON ITS
FUNCTION.
3. Internal Organization
Cell membrane Cytoplasm

Prokaryotic Cell
Cell membrane

Cytoplasm
Eukaryotic Cell Nucleus

Organelles
 MICROSCOPY
Microscopes are used to see cells because they
are very small. There are two types of
microscopes.
Simple microscope--one lens like a magnifier.
Compound microscope/light microscope--two
lenses working in series to make a magnified
image of the specimen.
 Imaging Techniques
Lowest Resolvable Approx Lower
Technique Image Formed By
Unit Limit
1 μm
Optical Microscopy Light Rays Microns (μm)
(monochromatic light)

Coherent Light Source .1 μm

Confocal Microscopy Microns (μm)
(Laser) (X-Y Direction)

Transmission
Electron Microscopy 2Ǻ
Electrons Angstroms (Ǻ)
(TEM) (high resolution TEM)

Scanning Electron Nanometers (nm) to 10 nm

Electrons (100 Ǻ)
Microscopy (SEM) Angstroms (Ǻ)

Atomic Force &

Scanning Tunneling
Molecular Mechanical 40 Ǻ
Microscopies Angstroms (Ǻ)
(AFM/STM) Probes (theoretical)
THE LIGHT MICROSCOPE AND THE

Compound light microscope

Transmission electron microscope

 THE LIGHT MICROSCOP

When viewed with the light microscope, only the nucleus and
cytoplasm are visible. In plant cells chloroplasts are also visible.
Dyes and simple staining make internal and external structures of
cell more visible by increasing contrast with background.
The limit of resolution for a light microscope is 200 nm.
Total magnification is product of the magnification of its ocular and
its objective lenses.
 Optical Microscope
1. Ocular lens
2. Objective turret
3. Objective
4. Coarse Adjustment
5. Fine Adjustment
6. Stage
7. Light source
8. Condenser
9. X-Y Control
Compound Light
Phase Contrast
Live Dead Assay
Confocal Image of Schwann
Cells
Guess who
ELECTRON MICROSCOPE
Electron microscopes have far greater resolving power than light
microscopes, with limits of resolution of about 0.2 nm
Two major types of electron microscopes:
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for 3-D imaging and
examining surfaces
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for observing internal
cell structure down to the molecular level
With the electron microscope, many more fine details are visible.
These are referred to as ultrastructure.
Guess Who?

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Guess Who?

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Guess Who?

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 TRANSMISSION ELECTRON
LIGHT MICROSCOPE
MICROSCOPE

Small and potable Very large and must be operated

in special rooms

Living and dead material can be Only dead material can be

observed observed

Preparation of material is simple, Preparation of material is

requires only little expertise lengthy and requires considerable
expertise

Cheap Expensive

Magnifies objects up to 1500x only Magnifies objects more than 500

000x

Low resolution High resolution

 SEM TEM
Studying surface Studying internal
structures of cells structures of cells & its
components

Specimen can be thicker Specimen must be very

thin

3-D image 2-D image

Resolution : 5-20 nm Resolution : 0.2 nm

*(some models 0.5 nm)