Module 1

Introduction to the study of Cell and

Molecular Biology

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Learning Objectives
At the end of this module, the students should
be able to:

1. Understand how cell was discovered

2. Identify the basic properties of cell
3. Differentiate the two fundamental classes of cell
Cell Discovery
• 13th Century
- spectacles were first made
• End of 16th Century
- first compound microscope were
constructed
• 1665 Robert Hooke
- first discovered cells
- piece of cork
• 1676 Anton von Leeuwenhoek
- first to examine animacules
- drop of pond water
Cell Discovery
• 1830 Matthias Schleiden
- German botanist
- plants were made up of cells
• 1839 Theodor Schwann
- German zoologist
- animals are made up of cells
• 1855 Rudolf Virchow
- German pathologist
- cells arise from pre existing cells
Cell Theory
1. Cell is the basic unit of life
2. All living things are composed of one
or more cells
3. Cells came from pre-existing cells
Basic Properties of Cells
• Cells Are Highly Complex and Organized
- parts are in their proper places
- less tolerance of errors
- more regulation and control
- cellular activities are precise
Basic Properties of Cells
• Cells Possess a Genetic Program and the
Means to Use it
- DNA contained information (genes)
- genes constitute the blueprints for
constructing cellular structures, directions
for running cellular activities
Basic Properties of Cells
• Cell Are Capable of Producing More of
Themselves
- cells division
- genetic material faithfully duplicated
Basic Properties of Cells
• Cells Acquire and Utilize Energy
- energy from the sun
- photosynthesis convert light energy to
chemical energy
- plants: sucrose or starch
- animals: glucose (glycogen)
- spends large amount of energy in
breaking and rebuilding macromolecules
Basic Properties of Cells
• Cells Carry out a Variety of Chemical
Reactions
- undergo different chemical reactions
- uses enzymes
- Metabolism: sum total of chemical
reactions
Basic Properties of Cells
• Cells Engage in Mechanical Activities
- material transport
- assembly and disassembly of structures
- move from one place to another
- due to changes in the shape of “motor
proteins”
Basic Properties of Cells
• Cells are Able to Respond to Stimuli
- adapts to the environment
- covered with receptors that interact with
substances in the environment
- receptors provide pathways that can
evoke responses
- alter metabolic activities, moving from
one place to another, committing suicide
Basic Properties of Cells
• Cells are Capable of Self-Regulation
- cells are robust (durable)
- can return to its appropriate state
Basic Properties of Cells
• Cells Evolve
- modify properties that will be beneficial
Two Fundamentally Different
Classes of Cells
• Features common to Eukaryotes and
Prokaryotes
- similar composition of plasma
membrane
- genetic material in DNA
- similar mechanism for transcription and
translation
-same metabolic pathways
Features common to
Eukaryotes and Prokaryotes
- similar apparatus for conservation of
chemical energy
- similar mechanism of photosynthesis
- similar mechanism for synthesizing and
inserting membrane proteins
-similar construction of protein digesting
structure
Difference between
Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes
Attributes Prokaryotes Eukaryotes
Cell Size Smaller Larger
Presence of Nucleus Absent Present

How genetic material Located in an area in Located in the

is stored in the cell cytoplasm (nucleoid) Nucleus

Reproduction Binary fission Mitosis

Presence of Absent Present
membrane bound
organelles
 Eukaryotic Cell organelles
Golgi complex Materials are sorted, modified and
transported
Cell wall Addition structure in plant cell
Chloroplast site of photosynthesis
Golgi complex Materials are sorted, modified and
transported
Cell wall Addition structure in plant cell
Chloroplast site of photosynthesis
Golgi complex Materials are sorted, modified and
transported
Cell wall Addition structure in plant cell
Chloroplast site of photosynthesis
Eukaryotic Cell organelles
Vacuoles Storage

Lysosome Contains enzymes for cellular

processes

Plasma Membrane Protection of the cell

Cilia/Flagella For locomotion/movement

Organelles = membrane bound
structures inside a cell that perform
specific functions required by the
cell.

Model Animal Cell

Cell MEMBRANE phosphate
“head”
• Structure
– double layer of fat
• phospholipid bilayer
– Proteins
• receptor molecules
• transport molecules

lipid “tail”
 Cell MEMBRANE (cont.)

FUNCTIONS of the Cell Membrane:

1. Separates the inside of the cell from the outside environment.
2. Transport proteins control what enters and leaves the cell.
3. Receptor proteins communicate between cells and with anything in the
environment.
Cell Communication
Some cells can send signals to other cells.

Ex. Nerve cells sending chemical signals, called

impulses to other nerve cells. This is how your brain tells
your finger that it has touched a hot stove!
Ex. Plant hormones stimulate the growth and death of
plant cells.

Auxin: responsible for the growth

pattern of plants toward sunlight
Gibberellins tell the plant embryo to
cease being dormant and germinate.
Cytokinins promote cell division and
differentiation.
 Cytoplasm = jelly-like filling that holds organelles

Centrioles = used in cell division and replication

Surface Area: Volume Lab

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Vacuoles & Vesicles food vacuoles

central vacuole

animal cells
plant cells

contractile
vacuoles
 • Structure
– membrane sac of
Lysosomes digestive enzymes
• Function
– digest food
small food – clean up & recycle
particle • digest broken
organelles
lysosomes

digesting broken
vacuole organelles
digesting food
 Mitochondria
• Structure
– double membrane

• Function ATP
– make ATP energy
– cellular respiration
• sugar + O2  ATP a l
• fuels the work of life a n im
O T H
in B ce ll s
a n t
& pl
 Plants make energy two
ways!
• Mitochondria
– make energy from sugar + O2 ATP
• cellular respiration
• sugar + O  ATP
2
• Chloroplasts
– make energy + sugar from sunlight
• photosynthesis
• sunlight + CO2  ATP & sugar ATP
– ATP = active energy
– sugar = stored energy
» build leaves & roots & fruit
out of the sugars sugar
 Mitochondria are in both cells!
Chloroplasts are only in plant cells.
animal cells plant cells

mitochondria
Chloroplast/plastid
 When things go bad…
• Diseases of lysosomes are fatal
– digestive enzyme not working in lysosome
– picks up food, but can’t digest it
• lysosomes fill up with undigested material
– grow larger & larger until disrupts cell & organ
function
• example:
Tay-Sachs disease
build up undigested fat
in brain cells

Tay Sachs Disease

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But
•
sometimes cells need to die…
Lysosomes can be used to kill cells when they
are supposed to be destroyed
– some cells need to die as a part of normal
development in an organism
– “auto-destruct” process
• lysosomes break open and kill cell
• cell “suicide”
Example 1 of necessary Lysosome work:
Tadpoles must re-absorb their tails when becoming a frog.
Example 2 of necessary Lysosome work:
During human fetal development cells must be destroyed to
separate fingers and toes.
syndactyly
6 weeks

15 weeks
 Where is the nucleus in a bacterial cell?
Nucleus
• Function
– control center of cell
– protects DNA
• instructions for building proteins
• Structure
– nuclear membrane
– nucleolus
• ribosome factory
– chromosomes
• DNA
 Ribosomes
• Function
– protein factories
– read instructions to build proteins from DNA
• Structure
– 2 subunits
– some free in cytoplasm
Ribosomes on ER
– some attached to ER
large
subunit

small
subunit
Endoplasmic Reticulum
• Function
– part of protein factory
• helps complete the
proteins
– makes membranes
• Structure
– rough ER
• ribosomes attached
• works on proteins
– smooth ER
• makes membranes
cytoplasm
jelly-like material holding lysosome
organelles in place food digestion
garbage disposal &
vacuole & vesicles recycling
nucleus
transport inside cells protects DNA
storage controls cell

ribosomes
mitochondria builds proteins
make ATP energy
from sugar + O2
cell membrane
cell boundary ER
controls movement helps finish proteins
of materials in & out makes membranes
recognizes signals
 Golgi Apparatus
• Function
– finishes, sorts, labels & ships proteins
• like UPS headquarters
– shipping & receiving department
– ships proteins in vesicles
• “UPS trucks” vesicles
• Structure carrying proteins
– membrane sacs

transport vesicles
 nucleus endoplasmic
reticulum
protein
DNA on its way! TO:

RNA vesicle TO:

TO:

vesicle
ribosomes

TO:

protein finished
protein

Golgi
apparatus
Making Proteins