UNIT 1 – HOW IS LIFE ORGANIZED?

Cell Theory
1) Cells are the basic and the smallest unit of life
2) All living things are made up of one or more cells.
3) All cells come from pre-existing cells through the process of cell division.

Seven Characteristics of Life

1) Movement – Refers to the ability of an organism to relocate from one place to another.
2) Respiration – Refers to the ability to break down glucose to release energy.
3) Sensitivity – Refers to the ability of an organism to respond to changes (stimulus) in the
environment.
4) Growth – Refers to the way in which an organism can obtain a permanent change in size.
5) Reproduction – Refers to the ability of an organism to produce an offspring.
6) Excretion – Refers to the ability of an organism to get rid of waste products that have been
produced by chemical reactions in cells.
7) Nutrition – Refers to the ability of an organism to possess important nutrients from the food
they consume.

Are viruses living or non-living

Viruses are non-living because:

1) They do not confirm to all of the seven characteristics of life.

2) They require a host to reproduce and synthesize products of metabolism.

Pasteur’s Experiment
 Louis Pasteur deduced from his experiment that all cells come from pre-existing cells
through the process of cell division.
 Two sterile broth-filled flasks were set-up. One had the swan-neck snapped off, whereas the
other remained intact to prevent the entry of unwanted microbes.
 The flask without the swan-neck turned cloudy, because of microbial growth.
 The flask with the swan-neck remain clear.
 This concluded that microbes are not able to appear spontaneously without the presence of
prior microbes.

Organelles and Cell Function

 Organelles are structures found within the cells.
 Different cells have different functions.
 Humans have more than 250 different types of cells.
 Each of them have a specific role for a specific function.
 For example, muscle cells have mitochondria which provides energy for them to contract.

Eukaryotic Cells
 Eukaryotes are any organism that have a true nucleus as well as other membrane bound
organelles.
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Comparing and Contrasting Plant and Animal Cell

Plant Cell Animal Cell
Have rigid cell walls Do not have cell walls
Have chloroplasts Do not have chloroplasts
Contain and obtain chlorophyll Cannot obtain or contain chlorophyll
Only a thin lining of cytoplasm Only a thin lining of cytoplasm
Small (if any) vacuole Have a large central vacuole filled with a
cellular sap
Both are very similar structurally and have membrane bound organelles such as the nucleus, cell
membrane, endoplasmic reticulum and ribosomes.

Organelles and their function

Plasma Membrane

 Semi-permeable membrane which regulates the molecules entering and exiting the cells.
 It is composed of a phospholipid bilayer and provides support to the cell.
 It forms a cell boundary

Mitochondria

 It is the site where cellular respiration takes place.

 It releases energy through the production of ATP (adenosine triphosphate)
 It converts sugar, fat, and proteins from food to useable energy which is then released.

Nucleus

 It is often referred to as the control centre of the cell.

 It contains the majority of the cell’s genetic material which is organized as DNA molecules
with proteins to form chromosomes.

Nucleolus

 This is the area where ribosomes are made.

Cell Wall

 It is made up of cellulose which provides the cell with structural support as well as
protection.
 UNIT 1 – HOW IS LIFE ORGANIZED?
 It is semi-rigid
 It prevents turgid or swollen cells from bursting

Ribosomes

 Made up of RNA and protein.

 They make and synthesize proteins using amino acids which are then used to repair the cell’s
damage.

Chloroplasts

 They are the site where photosynthesis takes place.

 They store chlorophyll, which is the green pigment in plants.
 It traps sunlight.

Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum

 Plays a central role in the synthesis of proteins and glycoproteins.

Golgi Apparatus

 Made up of membrane bound-sacs to process and bundle macromolecules (proteins and

lipids).

Centriole

 They help form the spindle fibres which are then used in cellular division.

Vacuole –

 It is a large-fluid sac that swells, pushing the cytoplasm against the cell wall, making the cells
turgid.
 The cell shrinks when the vacuole gets smaller (plasmolysed or flaccid).

Prokaryotic Cells
 Prokaryotes lack a true nucleus. A famous example is bacteria.
 UNIT 1 – HOW IS LIFE ORGANIZED?
Pilli

 Allows the bacteria to attach to other cell surfaces.

Flagella

 It is a whip-like structure allowing the cell to move.

Nucleoid

 It is an irregularly-shaped section of the cell containing the DNA.

Cytoplasm

 It is a jelly-like fluid that fills the cell.

Contrasting Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes

Prokaryotes Eukaryotes
They lack membrane-bound organelles They have membrane bound organelles
They lack a true-nucleus They have a true nucleus
They are placed in the kingdom Monera. They can be Protista, fungi and animals.

Euglena
 Euglena is not classified as an animal or a plant, primarily because euglena is unicellular but
plants and animals are multicellular.
 Euglena contains features of both plants and animals.
 They belong to a kingdom called Protoctista.

Protoctista
 They are microscopic.
 Most of them are unicellular. An exception is seaweeds which is multicellular.
 Some have features like animals, for example amoeba.
 Some have features like plants, for example chlorella.
 Some have features of both plants and animals, such as euglena.
 Some of them cause diseases, for example plasmodium parasite causes malaria.
 The plant characterized protoctista usually contain cell wall and chloroplasts.

Fungi
 They have no chloroplasts, which means they cannot photosynthesize.
 Some of them are single-celled, for example yeast.
 Some of them are multicellular, for example mucor.
 They have a cell-wall made up of chitin.
 They store sugar as glycogen.
 Multicellular fungi such as mucor have root like structure called hyphae, which is grouped
into mycelium, used for feeding. The hyphae secrete enzymes that externally digest food
into soluble products which are then absorbed by the fungus. This is known as saprotrophic
nutrition.
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 Hyphae are not roots as they have a completely different structure. They have a cell wall
made up of chitin rather than cellulose.
 Fungi cells are fused together to form long cells containing many nuclei (multinucleated
cells).
 Septa show where the end cell walls of the original cells were found.

Development of an organism
 The first step is the continuous division of cells to produce a blastocyst.
 The blastocyst then develops into an embryo.
 All of these cells are capable of further division, and are thus known as embryonic stem cells.
 A stem cell has the ability to repeatedly divide into more unspecialized stem cells.
 These unspecialized stem cells can then differentiate into mature cell types, such as muscle,
blood and nerve cells.
 After some time, most cells develop into tissues and organs that make up the organism.
 However, only a few cells in the tissues retain many properties of embryonic stem cells, and
these are known as adult stem cells.

Programmed Cell Death

 Occurs in healthy organisms
 Programmed Cell Death, or PCD, is controlled by specific genes in an organism.
 In this process, all parts of the cell are arranged and packaged in a membrane, and is then
engulfed by surrounding cells.
 PCD takes out all superfluous, infected and damaged cells.
 It is an important step of tissue and organ development.

Organ Systems
 An organ system is a group of organs operating together to carry out a specific task.
 Respiratory System – Gas exchange
 Nervous System – Reacting to stimuli
 Digestive System – Breaking down food
 Excretory System – Urine and water/salt balance
 Endocrine System – Production of hormones
 Skeletal + Muscular System – Protection and movement
 Circulatory System – Transport of Nutrients
 Integumentary System – Protection from injury and pathogen entry

Levels of Organization
1) Atom
2) Molecule or compound
3) Organelles
4) Cells
5) Tissues
6) Organs
7) Organ System
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8) Organism

Define a tissue
A tissue is a collection of cells that operate together

Define and organ

An organ is a collection of tissues that operate with one another

Define and organ system

An organ system is a collection of organs that operate together

Red Blood Cell

 Cells that have been adapted to increase oxygen uptake.
 They have a large surface area and are concave so that they can transport crucial nutrients
to the body’s cells, tissues, and organs.

Nerve Cells
 They are elongated (up to two meters), so that they can carry nerve impulses.

Muscle Cells
 They elongate and contract to enable organisms to move.

Embryonic Stem Cells

 They are stem cells that are pluripotent (they can grow into any specialized cell in the body).
 They are undifferentiated cells that can differentiate and repeatedly divide into many
mature cell types.
 They come from the inner mass of an embryo.
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Stages of Hierarchy (with an example of humans)

1) Kingdom – Animals
2) Phylum - Chordates
3) Class – Mammals
4) Order – Primates
5) Family – Hominids
6) Genus – Homo
7) Species – Homo-sapiens

Hierarchy
 Classification is the division of life into one of the five kingdoms using certain cell
characteristics and features of the organism.

Animals Plants Fungi Bacteria Protists

Eukaryotes Eukaryotes Eukaryotes Prokaryotes Eukaryotes

Multicellular Multicellular Mostly Unicellular Usually

Multicellular unicellular (algae
Heterotrophs Autotrophs (yeast is Autotrophs and is multicellular)
unicellular) Heterotrophs
Have a plasma Have a plasma Can obtain both
membrane membrane Heterotrophs No nucleus plant and animal
features
No cell wall Have a cell wall Some can be Have a plasma
pathogens membrane Some can be
pathogens
Have a cell wall Have a cell wall

How can organisms be named according to binomial nomenclature

 Binomial nomenclature refers to the scientific name given to an organism.
 It is the Genus + Species
 An example is lion, which is Panthera leo
 Panthera is the genus, and leo is the species